Complicated Again
by HabsGirl31
Summary: SEQUEL TO COMPLICATED! Things were normal, then Jake left leaving Sophie, Embry and Quil to deal. When he comes back will things go back to normal? Will Sophie and Embry have a normal relationship or will everything become Complicated Again? Embry/OC/Jake
1. Life Goes On

**Hey guys, a lot of you were asking for a sequel so I've decided to write one. I'm not really sure if it'll be that good but I hope you guys like it.**

**I haven't read the Twilight Series in a while so some of the stuff may be off from what happened in the book, but I'll try to stay as close to it time-line wise as I can ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**Complicated-er**

**Chapter One**

I was laying on my stomach facing the crashing waves of First Beach. The beach was crowded around me, but like usual I was alone. Everyone was either patrolling or busy. Story of my life for the last few months. Don't get me completely wrong, a lot of great stuff had happened in the last few months...

Embry and I were still together, obviously. We were closer than ever. And guess who lost their virginity? That's right; I was actually pretty pumped.

Plus, life at school was getting better. The boys at school had all come to the realization that Embry and I were for real and had stopped trying to hit on me and make out with me. Therefore, the girls realized that I wasn't going to steal their boyfriends.

Needless to say, I actually had some girl friends now. Well, at least they talked to me. That was a start, right?

I'd gone on a long streak of eating really healthy so everyone was off my case about the food thing. Well, except my dad but that's just a dad thing.

Kim and Jared were still together and as cute as ever. You know that song from Hairspray? The one called "I can Hear the Bells" or whatever. Well, you really could. Once Jared stops being a pussy and asks her. Sources – Embry and Quil – told me he already had the ring.

Emily and Sam hadn't got married yet, but she'd invited me to her house so many times that she'd surpassed the amount in which I could make fun of her at her wedding. Sigh. They still hadn't had the wedding though thanks to all the vampire and... other commotion. I'll get to that, though. Just let me get through the good stuff.

I can no longer make fun of Quil for being gay anymore. He imprinted. On a two year old. Well, actually she's three now. At first I was completely disturbed – can you say pedo? – but when I actually seen him with Claire, I wasn't. He treats her like a little sister. It's kind of pathetic but he enjoys himself so I don't complain.

Paul was still being a douche. Hopefully he imprints soon because I really can't stand him. But other people joined the pack: Leah, Seth, Collin, Brady and a few other kids who, really, were way too young for this.

Even the best of that doesn't make up for the worst though. When Jake left Emily's house that day, he never came back. He just phased and kept running. Embry said he was somewhere north of the border and that he was alive – since they could still read his thoughts when he was phased. He also said, mentally, he wasn't doing too great.

I missed him, a lot. I thought last year was bad when him and Embry first phased. It's a lot worse though, when you don't see them everyday, you don't know where they are and you don't know if you'll ever see them again.

Just to top off the bad news, that stupid Bella bitch is getting married to the blood sucker. Lovely, isn't it? A girl and her ice-cold, heartless, stone. Normally, I don't care what the Cullens do. They don't actually seem that bad, although I'd never tell anyone that. But Bella's the reason Jake left and may not come back. Yeah, it's a little melo-dramatic for him to leave over her. He was way to good for her; however, he's still gone and it's still her fault.

Yet, guess who's going to the wedding. Because, guess who's father is best friend's with the bitches father? Yup, me. If this was a "fuck my life" story, it would end right here. Anyway, Seth's going so it might not be too bad but then again, he does still like Bella's soon-to-be husband so you never know how bad it will be.

On another sad note, Uncle Harry – Leah's and Seth's dad – died.

That pretty much summed up the last three months. I sighed. The wedding was two weeks away and I was trying to come up with excuses not to go. Embry didn't want me near the bloodsuckers, and I was going to use that. Then my dad said, "So you're going to let a boy control your life," which really ticked me off so I said I'd go.

Embry laughed at me for that one... Rational thinking wasn't my forte, that was for sure.

"What you thinking about?" a voice said from behind me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin but when I looked up, I saw Embry lay down beside me. I greeted him with a kiss and then shrugged. "How to get out of the wedding?"

"Think of anything?"

I shook my head.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "You could always stop eating and almost die again."

My face lit up in mock amazement. "That's a great idea!"

He glared at me. "That was a joke. Do that and I'll be stuffing food down you're throat."

"That's not all you stuff down her throat," a voice joked from behind us.

I knew it was Quil but when I looked up and saw Claire with him, I gaped. "Dude! Watch what you say, she's right there!"

He just laughed and took a seat next to where Embry and I were laying. "Soph, she's _three_. She has no idea what that means. Do ya Claire-bear?"

The little girl looked up from his lap, smiling, with not a sweet clue of what was going on. I just laughed. I guess he had a point. I sat up and held my arms out for Claire. She wasn't my cousin because she was related to Emily on the side that I wasn't; we were still pretty close though.

She stood up – almost tumbling over in the process but Quil caught her – then walked over to me and plopped down into my lap.

Quil pouted at her. "Aw, why'd you leave me?"

Claire giggled and shrugged. "Wophie wanned me too," she said in her toddler way.

Quil laughed. "I'll remember that when you want ice cream, Claire-bear."

Her eyes grew round and let's just say she was on my lap for another two seconds. Eventually she got bored and Quil had to amuse her with childish games while I laid snuggled up to Embry on the sand. Summer was just around the corner, but because of the _lovely_ Washington weather, it was quite chilly. Note the sarcasm.

"So," I said slowly. I'd been wanting to ask this all afternoon. I didn't want to ruin the boys' good mood though. Yet, I knew I had to ask. "A-a-anything about Jake yet?"

Immediately, they both frowned. It was quiet.

"No," Embry finally said. "H-he'll come around."

"I hate that bitch," I said coldly.

"Sophie!" Quil exclaimed, clasping his hands over Claire's ears.

I reddened. Honestly though, it was so hard not to laugh. He was such a mom!

"Sorry. It's true though. Besides, shouldn't you be getting her back to Emily's? It's getting late. For her anyway."

He glanced at the time on his cell phone. "Yeah, I better." Then his expression brightened. "You ready to go home and see Aunt Emily Claire?"

The little girl looked like she was going to say no, but then she nodded and smiled. She toddled over to Embry and gave him a hug. "Bye Emmry!" she trilled.

He laughed and hugged her back. "Bye Claire."

I kissed her on the cheek and said bye before Quil carried her off the beach. I guess once they actually started to leave, she changed her mind and started to fuss.

"Aw, poor Quil," I sighed.

Embry looked at me, confused, as he pulled me to my feet. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged as we walked hand-in-hand to the beach's exit. "Come on. He might enjoy it but he has to wait like fifteen years just to even have a chance romanticly with her."

"As long as he keeps phasing, he won't age."

"I know," I said, "But it still must suck to have to wait for her, you know?"

"Oh, like I had to wait for you?" he asked, winking at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, whatever! I believe _I _had to wait for _you _Mr. Know-it-all."

"How long did I have to wait for you to talk to me after I imprinted on you?" he challenged.

"How long did I have to screw around with guys for you to get the hint I was trying to make you jealous?" I returned.

He grimaced, obviously not liking the mental image he'd gotten.

I smiled innocently at him. "You asked for it," I told him in a sing-song voice.

He smirked. "You're lucky I love you."

I pecked him lightly on the lips, said, "I know," and skipped away, up the beach.

Laughing, he chased after me. I'd walked to the beach that morning so we had to walk back. "How'd patrol go?"

"Same old. Nothing came up since that red-headed leach got killed. Leah's still trying to make everyone miserable and Paul's still, well, Paul."

I smacked him lightly across his arm – any harder would hurt me, not him. "Be nice, she's been through a lot. Are you telling me you weren't a pain when I said I wouldn't talk to you." It was so hard not to tease him about this year's events. Although at the time I would have rather died than go through it, Embry and I probably never would've had the guts to say we liked each other if it hadn't happened. So, yeah, I was kind of thankful.

"I was. But it wasn't my goal to make everyone else's life hell."

"Please give her a break."

He grinned. "If it'll make you happy." We continued walking back to my house. "So, what do you want to do once we get to your house?"

I lifted my eyebrows suggestively "Well, my dad's not home..."

He groaned. "Of course today would be the day you'd suggest that."

I frowned. I'd never gotten _that_ reaction before when I asked him if he wanted to have sex. In fact, it was usually the opposite. "Gee, Em, thanks."

Rolling his eyes, he kissed my forehead. "I didn't mean it like that." He casted a lusty glance, then grinned. "I _definitely _didn't mean it that way. But we're also out of those little plastic things that love to prevent pregnancy."

"Oh," I said glumly. "That sucks." For most teenagers, having no condoms left really wouldn't be a problem. However, when the only place in town to buy condoms is a store that your boyfriend's mom owns, you don't really want to buy them. I'm sure she suspects, but there's a big difference from suspecting and knowing for sure. We used to get Quil to buy them, but when he imprinted, we decided that would be asking too much.

And there was no way I could ask Emily. That would be begging for a sex talk; which pisses me off. I have no mom to tell me these things, I get it. But my dad's a doctor, and believe me, he's awkwardly given me "the talk" before.

"Yeah. We could drive to Forks but I don't think the convenience stores, or any stores, are open this late on Sundays."

When we arrived at my house, I unlocked the door. We took a seat on the couch. "We could watch a movie," I suggested.

"Or we could just do it and hope you don't get pregnant."

"You're a horny idiot, you know that?" I stifled a smirk.

Chuckling, he pulled me into his chest, resting his chin atop my head. "You know I'm just kidding. Besides, if you got pregnant... Oh god. Your dad would kill me. Quil would kill me. Kim would get Jared to kill me. Emily would get Sam to kill me. I'd be really dead."

I shook my head, laughing. "You're a strange one, Emmy. But really, what should we do?" I asked, rolling over so I was lying on top of him.

"Well, there's plenty things you can do safely without a condom," he said slyly, "or we could watch Dragonball Z."

My mouth fell open in false amazement "That is s_uch _a hard decision. Hmm, I think we should watch Dragonball Z," I teased.

He knew me too well, though, and started kissing me. I kissed him back, letting him push my tongue around – which he thought meant he won the dominance battle – while I worked on undoing his jeans. Before too long, I pulled back for a second. "But we're so watching Dragonball Z after!"

He snorted. "Deal."

**Please Review and tell me what you think :) **


	2. Wedding Dress

**Hey guys! Thanks for reviewing :) I'm glad you like it so far :D Here's the next chapter, figured I'd post it before the Canada/US game starts :) Go Canada Go! XD**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Two**

I stretched out, yawning as I woke up on Monday morning. Rolling over, I saw the empty space in my bed where Embry was last night. I frowned, the indent was still there so he couldn't have left long ago. Maybe he decided to go home and get ready...

After I rolled out of bed, I noticed a note on my night table. My chest clinched. Did he have to go patrolling? Did something happen? Instantly, I felt like a spaz when I read the note.

_Hey, you're dad kicked me out last night :( Guess you were right, I do snore...See ya soon, Beautiful 3 :) Embry_

I smiled, of course he would say something so incredibly cute. I grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before heading to the shower. When I got out, my dad still hadn't left for work and was down in the kitchen.

"Morning," he greeted cheerfully.

I glared at him, jokingly of course. "You kicked Embry out."

"Yes, most dad's do kick their daughter's boyfriend's out after midnight when they find them in her bed," he said, amused.

"That's not fair!" I stuck my tongue out at him. "You know we weren't doing anything."

"Last night," he scoffed.

I smiled knowingly. "Exactly."

His face scrunched up. "Urgh, Sophie, can't you just stay my little girl?"

"I'll always be your little girl dad. I just grew up. And don't complain, you're the one who pushed me to even talk to him."

He laughed. "Don't remind me! Now eat and get ready. Oh, the post office called, there's a package for you there. Make sure you go pick it up after school."

I nodded, chances are it was my birthday gift from my... mom. Yeah, as a matter of fact, it was just about the usual time I got her gift. My birthday was a few months ago... "I will."

"Alright, I better get going. See ya tonight, Soph."

"'Kay, bye Daddy. Have fun."

He smiled back at me before he headed for the door. I did as I was told: ate some oatmeal, brushed my teeth, hair, and headed for the door. Screw make-up, it was so itchy! It was kind of early so Embry probably wouldn't be ready but I decided to leave anyway.

Since, the walk to school was literally less than fifteen minutes – and a drive would maybe be one minute – I found it a waste of time to drive. Even if I did have a car. Plus, I'd been walking around La Push since I was six, it would feel strange not to.

Billy was sitting on his porch when I walked by his house on my way to Embry's. I felt a pang as I realized that a couple months ago I would've been stopping and picking up Jake. I waved anyway and forced a smile.

"Good morning!" he called out to me.

I walked up to the porch. I was early, might as well stop and talk. "Hey Billy, how's it going?"

He frowned slightly. "As to be expected."

I nodded. I really shouldn't have asked that question... "So when's Rachel coming home from college?" I asked quickly, trying to get off the subject.

He smiled. "The day after you're done school, I do believe. So in a week and a half."

"That's great," I cheered. "You must be excited."

"Yup, it's been a while since she's been home, that's for sure." He glanced down at his watch. "Well, you better get going, I'm sure you don't want to be late."

I shrugged. "I'm actually kind of early. Embry's probably still asleep knowing him."

Billy chuckled. "I just figured you'd want to get there early to study. Don't your exams start this week?"

My mouth dropped. Oh shit. I'd been so excited about school being done with and so worried about Jake, I hadn't even considered that for the year to end, finals need to be taken.

Billy smirked, trying to hide his amusement. "You forgot, didn't you?"

I pondered on what I could say. He would definitely tell my dad and then I'd be in shit before the marks even came back. "Uh, no. Pshh, hell no! Don't be ridiculous." I told him, strategically backing away towards the road. "I was just fooling you. But, if my dad asks. This conversation," I gestured between the two of us, "never happened." With that, I ran for all I was worth to Embry's house. "Bye old man!"

I'm pretty sure I heard him laughing hysterically from behind me. When I arrived at Embry's house, the store wasn't opened yet so I went in through him house. Since I'd ran there, I was out of breath.

"Hey, Julia," I greeted breathlessly. "Embry up?"

She nodded. "Yeah, are you okay?"

I shook my head. "No."

Just as I said that, Embry charged into the kitchen – surprisingly he was completely dressed and ready. "What's wrong?" he demanded anxiously.

I rolled my eyes. "Someone was eavesdropping." He stuck his tongue out at me. "I just ran from Billy's to here. We can't all be freakishly fit because we run around chasing bloodsuckers all night."

Julia, Embry's mom, laughed. She knew about the werewolf thing because Embry had kept getting grounded when he went out patrolling and she thought he was sneaking out.

Embry, on the other hand, glared. "God Soph, I thought something was wrong."

I pecked him on the lips. And I'll tell you, that is a hard task; he's like a foot and a half taller than my 5'3" figure. "Then stop being such a worry-wart. But... did you know we had exams this week?"

He stared at me, dumbfounded. "Please tell me you're kidding, babe."

I smiled sheepishly. "Nope."

He shook his head. "Well, I hope you like your room because when you're dad finds out he's gonna lock you in there. Or kill you."

"Aren't you supportive," I teased.

He laughed, pulling me into his side and encasing his arms around me. "I know, right?"

His mom chuckled. "You guys are crazy. Now get to school and study, I'm going to open the store."

"Bye mom," Embry called as I also said my goodbyes. "You ready?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

He grabbed his bag and we left for the school. "So you really forgot about the exams?" 

I nodded. "I'm so fucked! My dad's going to kill me."

"He'll understand."

I scoffed. "He's a doctor. He's under the impression that I should get straight A's."

He snorted, grabbing my hand. "Oh come on, Soph. No one would expect _you _to get straight A's. You can't expect brains _and _beauty." He ruffled my hair, smiling.

I mock glared at him. "Whatever. Says the guy who copies off me in Algebra."

He kissed my swiftly as we entered the school's building. "You know I'm kidding. You're very smart."

I rolled my eyes. "Suck up," I joked, kissing him.

So it turned out, unlike last year where we had one exam each day, we were having two on Monday, two on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. Just my luck, right? Luckily, I had Algebra first. I knew I would be fine with that. But, that afternoon I would have my Social Studies exam. A study subject, that I didn't study for. Great...

At lunch, our usual group ate together – Quil, Kim, Jared, Paul, Embry and I. "So how do you think you did?" Kim asked me.

I groaned and smashed my head onto the cafeteria table. "Don't ask."

Quil, who Embry had told, and Embry chuckled. "Can ya tell who forgot it was exam week?" Quil continued.

The whole table snickered. I glared. "It's not funny. What if I don't pass?"

Kim patted my shoulder. "You'll be okay. Just think positive."

"Says the girl who spent the whole weekend studying," Jared teased, in my defence.

Kim swatted at him playfully. "You aren't helping."

He apologized and kissed her sweetly on the cheek.

"I'm trying to eat," Paul complained. "Stop being so disturbing."

"We have to deal with you're face every time we eat. If we can deal, you can," I told him coldly. I would never like him. Maybe if he imprinted and started to take on some traits of a human my mind would change, but not likely.

He growled at me, which made Embry growl at him for growling at me. "Guys, settle down." They sneered at each other but listened to Jared.

"Alright," I sighed, standing up, "I'm going to study my ass off in hopes I will scrape by on my exam. See you guys."

The exam had been mostly multiple choice so it wasn't too hard. I wouldn't go as far as to say I aced it, but I'm sure I passed. After school, Embry and the guys had to do something for the pack and I had to go to Kim's. I was borrowing a dress from her for the wedding.

"I wish you'd come," I whined as I sprawled out across her bed. "It's going to be so horrible."

She giggled. "If you can't convince Embry, the whipped _I'll do anything for Sophie _Embry to go, you aren't going to get me to go. Besides, I'll be on vacation."

I sighed. "That sucks for me. But thanks for letting me borrow a dress."

"You're welcome. I can't believe you don't have a dress suitable for a wedding though."

I shrugged. Grabbing her squishy pillow, I smiled up at her. "All my dresses, are... a little too inappropriate for a wedding."

"It's an eighteen year old's wedding being thrown by bloodsuckers, how classy can it be?" Kim quipped.

"Ah, good point. But my dad so wouldn't approve. At least Seth is coming I guess. Even if he does like that vamp now anyway."

We dug through her wardrobe until we found a pretty, black-and-white floral dress. It fell just above my knees and had a black sash that tied just below my breasts. It was gorgeous. "Oh my god, it's so cute. Can I wear it?"

She nodded, smiling. "Of course, just try it on first. It might be too big for you."

I rolled my eyes. "Drop the low self-esteem crap, Kim. Your the same size as me. Do I have to call Jared over here to tell you how beautiful you are?"

She grinned, taking the pillow from me and whacking me with it. "Try it on!"

Laughing, I tried it on. It fit and I had to admit, it looked pretty good on me.

"You look so pretty."

I blushed. "Mer_ci_."

My phone rang with my obnoxious ring tone Embry changed it to that Rebecca Black "Friday" song and I had no idea to change it back. Ironically, the singer sang just as bad as Jake's sister, who had the same name. "Hello?"

"_Hey, Soph, it's me, Em._"

"Hey, Em, what's up?"

"_The pack's over for dinner and Jared and Embry are whining that you too aren't here_," I heard our two soul mates muttering complaints to Emily's comments through, most-likely, full mouths of food. "_You two want to come over?_"

"One sec." I looked over at Kim. "You want to eat at Em's?"

She nodded. "As long as _she's_ cooking and not one of the guys."

I laughed and so did Emily who'd overheard through the phone. "Sure, I have to stop at the post office but we'll be there soon. Tell Emmy and Jare to try to survive without us. Bye!"

"_Bye!_" she thrilled before hanging up.

We hurried to the post office, knowing that if we were late we'd have a bunch of werewolves mad at us for delaying their dinner. Never a good thing. When we got there, we greeted Gladys and took my package.

"Are you going to open it?" Kim wondered.

I shrugged. I had been right, it was from my mom. Like always, she spelt my name "Soffie". Stupid bitch. "I guess so." I pulled off the mail packaging, then read the note:

_Happy Birthday 16th Soffie! Hope you have a great one!_

_Love Mom_

I snorted. "She spells my name wrong and got the year wrong." Apparently she didn't know I was seventeen...

Kim smiled sympathetically. "Sorry, Soph."

I really didn't care though. I was used to it. When I was little it bothered me, now though, I saw no point in caring. She hadn't even come to visit me since she left... when I was two. She wasn't worth it. Opening the gift, which was clearly going to be CD, I wondered what kind of music she thought I would like. I mean, she didn't even have me on Facebook so it's not like she could even check it there.

I scowled when I realized what CD it was.

"Uh, oh," Kim laughed, "what is it?"

"Justin... Bieber," I said showing her the CD apparently named "My World 2.0"

She chuckled, knowing my hatred for him. "Oh god. What are you going to do with it?"

I looked at her and said simply, "What else? Burn it."

Rolling her eyes, she chuckled. "Good solution. Sorry about your mom's gift, though."

"It's fine. Hey, did you say you needed to stop at the store? It's on the way to Emily's."

She nodded and we hurried a bit more. When we entered the store, I noticed Julia wasn't in and Caylee was working. "Hey Cay, where's Julie?" Normally Julia was always here when I wasn't working. Used to be Embry too, but since he was busy with patrolling, he didn't work there anymore.

"She went to a sewing club meeting with Quil's mom. Strange right?"

I laughed and nodded. "Yeah, she usually never leaves." This was to my luck though. As Kim went and grabbed the stuff she needed, I went to the back of the store and grabbed a package of condoms. Since Caylee had started working here, she'd started to like me and we were becoming pretty good friends. So it wasn't awkward buying then in front of her.

Kim paid for her stuff and then I put them on the counter. "Make sure you don't tell Julie," I said, only half-joking as I paid for them. Caylee laughed and waved us goodbye as we left.

Kim looked at me, slight disappointment in her eyes. She was a pretty big goody-two-shoes and I knew she didn't approve of me and Embry having sex. I slipped the package in my shorts' pocket and smiled innocently. "C'mon Kimmy. It's not a big deal. We are soul mates"

She sighed. "I know. I just... I just, don't think I'm ready. And it makes it worse that you and Embry are doing it. What if Jared gets mad at me?"

I smiled and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, you're his imprint. He can't be mad at you anyway. And he understands so don't be silly. He loves you and he'll wait 'til you're comfortable."

She grinned widely and we continued on our way to Emily's.

**Hope you liked it :) Please review!**


	3. Condoms and Stuff

Chapter Three

I didn't bother to knock on the door when I got to Emily's. I never did anymore when she invited me; however, when I was coming over unexpectedly, I did. You never know what you might walk in on... Insert barf here.

Surprisingly, inside, the food wasn't even ready yet. So we went to the living room where the rest of the pack was while Emily cooked. I offered to help, but I sucked at cooking.

Jared, Embry, Quil, Sam, Seth, Leah, Brady, Paul and Collin were all jammed together in the tiny living room. I couldn't jelp but laugh, they were all huge and it was a funny sight, them all crammed in there.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I greeted, taking a seat on the floor in front of Embry.

They all muttered "nothing much" or "nothing" but kept their eyes glued to the television. Because obviously Cheaper By The Dozen 2 is so much more important. After all, how many times had they seen this movie?

Jared finally piped up after he pulled Kim onto his lap. "Where were you guys? Em said she wouldn't finish cooking until you guys got here. We're starving!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, god forbid you have to wait an extra ten minutes for food. Besides, I had to pick something up at the post office." I rummaged through my bag for the CD. "That reminds me, does anyone want a Justin Bieber CD?"

They all stared at me like I'd just offered them free tickets to go see Barney. Could they really hate this kid that bad? I mean yeah he was Canadian, and sounded like a chipmunk, which kind of sucked... Still, though, as bad as Barney?

When they kept staring at me, I got a little creeped out so I elbowed Quil – who was sitting beside Embry – playfully. "C'mon Quilly, I know you want the CD."

Getting what I meant, he glared. "I thought we were done with the gay jokes?"

I shrugged, smiling innocently up at him. "You thought wrong."

He rolled his eyes. "I'll take it anyway, though. Claire likes him."

"Mhmm, Claire likes him. More like you'll be sitting in your room jacking off to it," I teased. Everyone laughed, except Leah. She didn't laugh anymore...

He pushed his foot over – since I was sitting on the floor and they were on the couched – and kicked me. I toppled over, almost hitting my head on the coffee table I may add. Everyone laughed, including Leah. So I guess she does laugh. When I hurt myself. What lovely people I hang out with...

I frowned up at Embry, who was laughing his ass off. "You're a horrible imprint, you know." His laughter subsided, a bit, and he cocked his head. "When Em, or Kim, or Claire get hit, they at least see if they're okay. You just laugh."

He grinned. Then he pulled me up off the floor and slid me onto his knees, kissing the top of my head. "Yeah, but if I asked if you were okay, every time you got hurt, I'd drive you insane."

I considered, and yeah, he had a point. "Fine," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

He wrapped his mouth around it and started kissing me. I laughed and shoved him away. He never usually kissed me in front of the pack, I found it awkward. Seriously, they already knew _every fucking single thing_ that we did, they didn't need to see us do it.

"Get a room," Paul scoffed, in what must have been a delayed reaction because we weren't even doing anything.

"Fuck off Paul," I scowled. Have I mentioned how much I hated that guy? Honestly, I wish he'd jump a bridge and die already.

Just as I said it, Emily walked in and looked at me disapprovingly. "Language, Soph."

I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted. Everyone else swore like there was no tomorrow yet I'm not allowed to say one word?

Kim giggled from her spot on the end of the couch. I laughed back at her. Next time you get yelled at Kim, you're going to know it.

"Soph, do you and Kim want to help me with the table?" Emily asked us.

We nodded. But I felt kind of bad that she didn't ask Leah so before I stood up, I said, "You coming, Leah?"

"Does it look like I'm coming?" she asked snarkily, relaxing deeper into the couch.

I heard Embry growling at her, underneath me. He hated her as much as I hated Paul. She always brought up the thing about his mom and how his dad could be any one of Sam's, Quil's or Jake's fathers. It really upset him although he wouldn't admit him.

Either way though, I didn't want him growling at my cousin. I brought my elbow back at full force right into his gut. It hadn't taken me long to realize that if you hit a werewolf with you hand or foot, it's going to hurt you more than them. But if you elbow or knee them, it does decent damage.

He exhaled in pain and I laughed. "Be nice." He rolled his eyes but shut up nonetheless. I stood and and stretched. Man, I was really tired. Shortly after I stood up, I heard a light thump. I figured it was just someone dropping the controller, so I walked towards the kitchen. That was a mistake.

Before Kim, Emily or I weren't even out of the living room, Brady – who had been sitting on the floor beside the couch – said in a perfect imitation of Kim's _ooh la la _voice, "Well, well, well, what are these?"

The three of us looked back to see Brady sitting there with a box of condoms in his hand, grinning devilishly at me. Instinctively, my hand flung to my shorts pocket. It was empty and I could feel my face burning at the minute; which was really bad because I was only half-Quileute and you could tell I was blushing.

Normally I wouldn't have given a shit, the pack knew what I did with Embry. Since Embry was stupid and couldn't not think about it when he was patrolling. Emily didn't though. I knew she'd disapprove big time, too. And she was standing right there with that part mad, part sad, part disappointed face on. Plus, if I knew this pack, they were going to milk this for all they could.

So I played it cool, or at least I tried to. "They're condoms Brady, and you really are too young to have them."

"So," Paul said, grinning cockily. "They're his condoms that fell out of _your _pocket. I don't think Embry is going to like that."

Embry growled at him. "Okay, guys shut –" he tried to stop them but it didn't work. Paul and Brady kept going.

"Or maybe," Brady piped up, "they're for Paul. After all, didn't you once upon a time say that he was the only hall monitor you'd want to have sex with?"

I scowled, Embry frowned, Emily frowned and everyone else laughed. Of course they'd find my utter humiliation funny. But I had to come up with something. After all, this was me. When did I ever let people humiliate me when I don't have to let them? Never. That wasn't going to change, either.

"You're right, Brady, I did say that. Why? Jealous?"

Now Embry was smirking, but he had a jealous glint in his eyes. I winked at him when no one was watching and he forced a smile. I rolled my eyes and mouthed chill. He did.

Luckily, Kim spoke up for me. "Come on Brady, everyone knows you have a crush on her. You don't have to turn it all on her to hide it."

This time, Brady turned beat red and looked at the ground. I honestly hadn't known he'd had a crush on me but apparently he did. I laughed. Poor kid, Embry was going to kick his ass.

At least if his expression had any say in the matter.

Everyone was laughing at Brady now, so Embry reached down and plucked the condoms out of his hand. "Thanks, but I believe these are mine, pup."

Brady kept looking at the ground as everyone hustled to the kitchen. Apparently they were hungry because they didn't even wait for us to set the table. They just grabbed and plate and barrelled towards the food.

There wasn't enough seats to fit us all so I had to sit on Embry. As did Kim and Emily. Not on Embry, obviously, but their guys. I wasn't really that hungry but, you know, if I didn't pig out on food whenever I was within ten feet of him, he'd probably rush me to the hospital. So I nibbled the food on my plate until all the guys and Leah, were done eating. Yeah, three or four plates later.

Eventually people started to leave and the time came when Embry wanted to head home too. So we said good-bye and left.

"So did you find a dress at Kim's?" he asked as we walked hand-in-hand back to my house.

I nodded. "It's so cute, Emmy. You would love it if you would come." I pouted at him hopefully.

He didn't fall for it, he just laughed. "I love you Sophie, but I will not go to that bloodsucker's wedding."

"What if one hurts me?"

He flinched. "You don't think I've already drilled Seth one thousand times to watch you?"

"You didn't!" I exclaimed.

He nodded, wrapping his arm around me. "Sophie, you're lucky I'm letting you go at all. I don't want you near those stupid bloodsuckers at all."

"Then why are you letting me go?" I asked, confused.

He smiled softly. "Because I know you always hated the way Sam was so protective of Emily and wouldn't let her do anything. I don't want to make it so you can't make your own decisions. But I can't stand seeing you get hurt either."

I smiled. "Embry, I love you. And I'm really glad that you're so sweet and thoughtful." I kissed him lightly. "But couldn't you be obsessively protective just this one time so I don't have to go to the damn wedding?"

He frowned. "Sophie."

I sighed. "I know. I have to go. But thank you Emmy, I really appreciate the whole... not controlling my life."

He chuckled. "I knew you would."

We continued to walk in a comfortable silence for a while until Embry queried, "So where the hell did you get condoms?"

"Your mom's store," I said in my best _uh-duh _voice.

His eyes rounded. "Didn't we agree to not buy condoms in front of my mom?"

I nodded, smiling. "She wasn't there, so I figured this was our best shot to get some. And hey, I want them back!"

"Why going to go use one with Brady?" he taunted.

"No," I said simply, "But if you have them, you'll probably use them all to jack off alone in your room."

"Why would I do that, when I could just come over to your house?" he growled sexily in my ear.

I smirked. "Fine, whatever, keep them. But don't lose them or we won't be doing it until you get more."

"Okay, but I have an idea." He grinned seductively at me. "Since my mom's not at my house, why don't we go back there and test one out?"

"Listen, Mr. Horny, I have a better idea." He frowned, knowing my idea wasn't going to get him laid. "We go back to my house, or your house, and _study_ because I don't feel like failing all five of my exams."

"Whatever you say, sweetie." He trailed his hand down my back from my shoulder to my butt. He squeezed lightly and I squealed.

"Don't make me change my mind!"

"That was the plan," he teased, smiling childishly at me.

Rolling my eyes, I pecked him on the chin. He was really tall okay? Unless he was leaning down a bit, even on my tip toes that was the highest I could reach. "Emmy, I need to study."

He nodded. "Let's go then. Your dad will probably kick me out early tonight since he caught me last night."

I snickered. "Told you you snored."

"You're going to get it," he threatened, growling playfully at me.

I shrieked as his hands tickled my sides and we raced back to my house. I was almost tempted to do his plan instead of mine when we got back to my house. Thank god my dad was there or I might've had a huge chance of failing my English exam.

**Review please? :)**


	4. Um, Jake?

**Hey guys! Thanks for reviewing :) I hope you like this one :)**

**Chapter 4**

The rest of exam week went by without a hitch. Well, unless me most-likely failing two out of my five exams counted. Besides that, though, it was okay. Embry hadn't been patrolling much since that army of newborns had been defeated – long story, and I really don't want to remember it – so we'd been spending a lot of time together.

On Thursday, the day Rachel was supposed to come home, she didn't. She was coming home two weeks late. That meant she's coming home a few days after the wedding. At least I'd have something to look forward to.

The days passed rather quickly. Before I knew it, it was the next Wednesday, the day I got my report card. I met up with Embry, Kim and Jared and we went to see what we got. We all passed. I barely did though. Sixty percent average. Woot! Actually, no. My dad was pretty pissed.

My first few days of summer were... boring. Kim had gone on vacation up to her grandparents house in Canada. I told her to watch out for moose and beavers. She didn't find it funny. Apparently they're really scary up there.

Before I had even realized it – and before I had a chance to come up with an excuse – the wedding was just a few days away. That sounds dreadful, right? But guess who decided to come back to La Push?

"Jake!" I pretty much screamed when I saw him talking to the pack in Sam's front yard. He had enough time just to turn around before I engulfed him in a hug. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Soph," he said sarcastically, hugging me back.

I looked up at him seriously. Yes, Jake and I spent more time pissing each other off than actually getting along, but he was still my best friend, well one of them. "If I could attack you without hurting myself more than you, I would kill you right now."

He chuckled, although it didn't reach his eyes. "I've already been yelled at. You don't have to start, just be glad I'm back."

I pursed my lips. Yelling at him usually just made things worse, so I decided not to. "Fine."

"That's a girl." He ruffled my hair.

I glared at him. As glad as I was to see him, I really hated it when he did that. I untangled myself from our hug and went over to kiss Embry. "Are you guys talking about stuff that I'm not allowed to hear? 'Cause I can leave if you want?"

They all laughed. "Actually, no," Sam laughed. "We were just about to go cliff-diving."

"Want to come?" Quil asked. Embry looked up hopefully, so did Jake. Aw, he actually missed me.

I shook my head. "I do not have a death wish, thank you very much. Have fun beings idiots. I'll go see Em. Hey, Jared, when's Kim coming home?"

Embry rolled his eyes, how many times had I whined about her being gone since she left?

"Just six more days," he said, obviously hating her being gone.

I patted him on the shoulder. "You'll survive man."

Quickly I kissed Embry and told them to have fun before scurrying into Emily's house. For once, she wasn't cooking. She was cleaning though, so it wasn't that strange. "Hey," I greeted.

She smiled. "Hey. How are you?"

"I'm good, you?"

She said she was good, then, the un-ruined side of her face turned mischievous "I'm hoping you haven't used all those condoms yet."

"Emily," I whined. "You have sex with Sam, why do you have to always make a big deal about me and Embry?"

She smirked. "I'm not seventeen Sophie."

"Most seventeen year olds have sex. Besides, he's my soul mate, it's not like either one of us is going anywhere!"

She rolled her eye, and turned back to the sink. "I know. It's just weird, you're growing up."

"You sound like my dad." Then I grinned devilishly, if she was gonna make me feel awkward, then I was going to do the same. "But, if you must know, yes. We did use all the condoms."

Her mouth gaped open a little. "All of them? That was a pretty big box for you to have used all of them." That disapproving gleam was back in her eyes.

I grinned larger. "Well, when you wanna do it, ya do it." Even though she was right, because there was way too many in that box for them to be gone. Unless you had sex like five times a day; and I can barely walk after one time. So no way in hell Embry is getting that lucky.

"All of them, Soph? Really?" She was frowning. Oh how easy she was to trick...

"Well actually," I began, "one had a whole in it so we couldn't use it. So yeah, we didn't use _all _of them."

"Alright, whatever. Let's talk about something else."

"Don't get crabby Em, you brought up the subject."

She rolled her eyes. "I know. But the guys will be home soon, you want to help me cook?"

I laughed and nodded. Anything to get off the subject I guess was her motive. I didn't particularly like cooking; nor was I good at it. It was something to do, though. She gave me the easy job of cutting and peeling potatoes and carrots.

Twenty minutes, five cuts and a mess around the kitchen later, I was done. I don't care what anybody said, cooking was hard and difficult. And unless Embry wanted to cook, we were eating take-out – or visiting Emily – the rest of our lives.

She smirked and thanked me and I handed them to her. "What happened? You used to love cooking."

"Used to, being the key word." I groaned. "I have no idea how the hell you cook for these guys! I would die just cooking for one person with a normal appetite!"

She chuckled and just continued cooking the meal as I drabbled on about nothing really important. Eventually I got to a topic in which she had to answer back. I knew it was a hopeless cause, but I decided to ask one more time. "Why don't you come the wedding with me? Seth's going, it could be like a family thing! You never really see him any more."

She giggled. "Are you that desperate for me to go that you forgot that he comes to my house almost everyday since he phased?"

I pursed my lips. I had forgotten about that... Dammit "Please Em!"

Shaking her head, she sighed. "You know I can't. Sam would not approve at all, and frankly, I don't want to go. Besides, Jake's back and I'm sure he will be going."

"You really think so?" I asked anxiously.

She shrugged. "I'm sure no one will want him to go. But it's Jake, he's like you, he'll find away around it."

I rested my head in my hands. "Yeah, I taught him well... But he's just going to hurt himself more if he goes, why would he do that?"

"Why'd you keep coming back to Embry?" she asked, a tad condescendingly, may I add.

"That's not fair," I protested.

She raise an eyebrow. "No? Well we know it's the truth, Sophie. For some stupid reason he loves her. And he wants to go."

"Well I wouldn't want to see the person I love marry a bloodsucker, that's for sure."

"I don't understand either, but we just have to live with it."

I nodded and stood up to help her set the table. We were having chicken and vegetables, had to admit I was kind of pumped about that. Anyway, we could hear the guys on the way back to the house – holy lord they were loud! – and I was definitely surprised about how fast time had passed.

Once everybody got there, we all ate. No one brought up the wedding, no one mentioned Bella. Everything was normal. Well, we were all acting like it was at least. Why we tender to do that when things were more complicated than ever, I had no idea. I was just happy that Jake was back and things could be normal for a few days.

Until the wedding, which undoubtedly will be the first sign of all hell breaking loose. Yay... But, eventually everyone began to clear out. Jake had to go home, spend some time with his old man. I had a feeling he wasn't going to get yelled at for leaving. Billy was just too happy that he was back and safe.

Unlike usual, Embry and I weren't the last to go. We actually left a little early. That was okay, I wanted to talk to him.

We began to walk silently down the shore of First Beach when I asked, "Is Jake going to the wedding?"

He looked unsure of whether or not to tell me; as if he should keep it from me. I glared and quickly he sighed. "He's not sure. Sam doesn't want him to, honestly, neither do I. He probably will though. If he does, we'll all have to be there watching him."

"So you're coming to the wedding?" I asked slowly.

He shook his head. I pouted. "We'll probably just watch from a distance, keep an eye on him."

"So why do you think he came back?"

He shrugged, kicking a pebble absently. "He's keeping his thoughts sealed up pretty tight, when we're phased, so I don't really know. I think it's a mix of him wanting to go to the wedding and see her before she," he dropped his voice, "changes and missing everyone here."

I sighed. "I will never get why he puts himself through all this for that bitch."

He chuckled, sliding his arm around my waist. "Maybe he's got the idea that since I put up with all your bitching and shit for all those years, if he puts up with hers, he'll get the same ending we did," he teased.

I smacked him lightly. "You make me sound like the worst person in the world."

He kissed my forehead. "Well that's funny, because I think you're the best."

I scoffed. "Someone's being cheesy."

"Well it's true."

I smiled, blushed and adverted my eyes to the sand. "It's not fair to him how we get a happy ending and we don't."

"No," he said sadly, "it's not. But he might still imprint."

"I hope so."

Then Embry's face went from soft to dead serious. "I need to talk to you about something and you need to promise me you are going to listen to me."

I frowned, I never liked the way these conversations went. "What?"

"When you're at the wedding, please don't do _anything _to even slightly tick off the leaches." He looked like he was in pain as he said it, and I knew he was. I really wished he wouldn't worry about me so much, he always got so sad. "Please, Soph, I mean it. Not anything. I hate the fact of you being nice to them, but just do it. Only talk and go near them when you have to and stay with Seth or your dad at all times."

I was slightly taken aback by his request. I knew it was for my safety, but he's never demanded me to do something before. I sighed. Crap, this was where I would have to admit that I didn't hate the bloodsuckers – not that I liked them, I just didn't find them as bad as everyone acted like they were. At least the Cullens. The rest were okay.

"Embry, I know you don't trust them, and I know you don't want me near them. Really, I don't actually want them to be but... it's a public wedding, they aren't going to do anything to me. They eat animals for a reason, okay. Yeah, it's as sketchy as hell, but I do believe they're good."

He frowned. "You don't know them, you've never met them Soph."

"Embry, neither do you. Look, I really hate Bella but if she hangs out with a guy like Jake, what makes you think that she would have a masochistic, evil, bloodsucking ass hole as a husband?"

"Uh, she's marrying a vampire?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Whatever Embry."

"Please Sophie, just promise me." He looked at me with those stupid, adorably cute, puppy dog eyes.

I groaned. "Fine. I'll be careful. But you have to stop worrying when you know I'll be fine."

"Sophie, if I knew you'd be fine, I wouldn't worry and you know that."

**:) Please review :)**


	5. To The Wedding We Go!

Chapter 5

It's finally the day of the wedding. I am just so excited! She's going to look so beautiful in her dress! Oh, golly, I wonder who will be the bridesmaids! See that enthusiasm? That's what I "should" be feeling. In reality it's more: going to the wedding of a girl I really hate, barf, stuck around bloodsuckers for hours, barf.

I sighed and slipped on Kim's dress. I'd almost been hoping she'd forget about it before she went away on her vacation and I could say that I didn't have anything to wear. No such luck.

There was a knock on my door. I situated myself in the dress so it covered everything. "Come in."

Embry showed up in my doorway. "Did you decide to come?" I asked hopefully.

He smirked before walking over and kissing me on the lips. "Yes, Sophie, I decided to go – in shorts and shirtless."

I rolled my eyes, stupid boys and their stupid sarcasm... I played dumb. "That's fine, they're bloodsuckers, they don't need class."

"Coming from the girl who defended them," he teased.

"Please Emmy," I begged using my puppy dog eyes.

He scoffed. "Maybe if I hadn't been you're best friend for fifteen years before I imprinted on you, that would work, but I was so nuh uh."

I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest. "You're a bad imprinter."

"And you're adorable when you don't get your own way." He wrapped his arms around my waist, pressing his lips to mine. I felt his tongue lick my lower lip and opened enthusiasticly. Before I knew it we were tangled together, smashing out mouths against each other.

I felt something hard poking into my stomach and grinned. "Aw, is little excited?" I asked, trailing kisses down his neck.

He groaned. "Mmm." I started sucking harder until I was sure it would leave a mark. He moaned. "S-Soph, stop. O-or I won't be able to stop... think... ing about it when I phase."

I giggled, sliding my tongue in a path up to his ear lobe. "You're going to think about it anyway," I whispered sultrily, "so why should I stop."

He groaned again, and picked me up. He threw me lightly onto my bed before climbing on top of me. He clamped his lips onto mine, kissing me roughly. I gradually worked my hands down to his cut-offs' button.

He restricted my hands and smiled, breaking off the kiss. "Your doors open."

"Close it," I replied. I went back to kissing him and he allowed. About ten minutes later, he straightened up and bolted upright.

"Hey," I whined, "I wasn't done with you."

He smiled sadly. "I know, sweetheart, but you're dad's home. I'll be back tonight," he planted a kiss on my cheek before sprinting out the window.

I scowled. "You could've used the door!"

"Sue still needs to get ready Soph, so I might be at her house for awhile, you know her," Dad called from downstairs. "Come keep Seth company!"

"Okay!" I yelled down. I brushed my hair quickly, to hide the evidence and went downstairs. No way was I getting "gussied up" for Bella Swan's – or should I say Cullen's – wedding. Stupid, selfish bitch. I ran down the staircase to the living room.

"Hey Seth!" I greeted, dropping down beside him on the couch.

"Hey. You look nice," he told me smiling.

"Aw, thank you. And don't you look dashing my darling, cousin," I teased in my best English accent. It was bad, so what?

He snorted. "Darling? Accent? Someone got up early and watched the Royal wedding."

I shrugged. "Every girl, even me wants to be a princess at some point in their life."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, unless you can age eight years and marry that ginger guy, it ain't happening."

"Excuse me, Seth," I said with mock haughtiness, "_That _ginger I happen to like is barely 24!"

He looked at me as if I was crazy, then it looked like realization hit him. "No, dumby not _that _ginger. How would marrying a hockey player make you a princess? I meant that prince's brother."

"Oh!" I exclaimed, feeling slightly stupid. "I get it! Yeah, that's Harry. I think I'll stick with Embry, though. Accent's really aren't that hot. And can you imagine having to drink tea and be proper all the time? No thank you."

He just shook his head. "Yeah, stay with your soulmate because he doesn't drink tea, not because you love him, or anything."

I chucked a throw pillow at him – after all they were called _throw _pillows for a reason. "Whatever, you know I love him. And besides, you're my cousin, you have to support my theories not go against them."

He laughed and smiled that innocent smile of him. So young... "Alright, let's go with that."

"Alright, so how long do you think you're mom will take?" I asked, lounging back on the couch.

Seth shrugged. "Probably a half an hour or so, I guess."

"Man," I sighed. "That sucks. We could watch TV."

He nodded, reaching for the remote. He turned it on then went on the guide. "CSI?"

I shook my head. "No, I hate that show." He continued scrolling. "Myth Busters?"

"You don't like CSI but you like Myth Busters? Wow... and no. Um, South Park."

I nodded and he turned it to the station. It was one of the first, and worst episodes. "Never mind," he said, clicking back to the guide.

"Ooh, Lingo!"

He chuckled. "This isn't school, I'm not watching a show about spelling."

"Fine," I grumbled.

"Big Bang Theory?" he asked.

"I wish, we don't have that channel." Let's just say, by the time we agreed on what to watch, my dad and Sue walked in the house. It was strange how alike they looked, it was like they were twins. They were just brother and sister though.

"You guys ready?" Sue asked, clearly as excited about this stupid thing as I was.

Seth jumped up enthusiasticly and I rolled my eyes. What a kid.

"Yeah," I grumbled, pulling myself off the couch. "So there's no chance of getting out of this?"

"Oh, come on, Soph, they aren't that bad," Seth said happily, "and besides _you _defended them so it's not like you hate them that much."

I glared at him as my dad and Sue smirked, stifling laughs. "Who told you that? Embry?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, but he didn't mean to. He was just thinking about it."

"Fucking douchebag," I hissed, stomping out to the car. "Can't trust that stupid mutt with nothing."

Sue and Dad burst out laughing, following me to the car. Seth on the other hand frowned. "He's gonna be really upset if he knows you said that."

"Well, he's not going to find out, is he Seth?" I threatened, staring him down.

He chuckled, taking the seat beside me in the back of the car. "Soph, maybe that would've scared me when I was ten, but not now. I'm over a foot taller than you, you can't hurt me!"

I grinned devilishly at him. "Paul thought that too."

He gulped, clearly picturing the time I'd sacked Paul after he kissed me. "Never mind Did I tell you you were my favourite cousin?" He smiled sweetly at me.

I giggled. "Aw Seth, don't worry, you're too nice for anybody to really hate you."

He blushed and looked out the window. It was probably almost an hour drive to the Cullen's house since it was so out in the middle of nowhere, which sucked. I hated long drives, especially when my iPod's dead.

"Wanna play the license plate game?" Seth offered. He had no iPod with him either and all we could find on the radio was kid's music and the news.

I shrugged. We played, and this is how the whole game went.

"Washington."

"Washington."

"Washington."

"Arizona."

"Washington."

"Washington."

"Oh, look, another Washington."

"Shocker."

"Ooh! Wait! I think that's a British Columbia one! Oh... no, never mind, just another _really _old Washington."

"This game isn't as fun as I remember," I complained. He nodded in agreement. Did people just stop coming to this part of Washington or something? We really need someone to right a book or movie that takes place in this part of the state to get more tourists. Ha, like that would ever happen.

"How about I spy?" Seth suggested, seeming a lot younger than his fifteen year old self.

I looked at him dubiously. "Yes Seth, let's play that," I said sarcasticly. "I spy something that's green. Oh, wait it must be trees 'cause that's all that's even surrounding us!"

He laughed. "Okay, Miss smarty pants. Then what do you want to play?"

I pondered on the thought. There really wasn't much to do in a car. We didn't bring anything so cards really was out of the question, and as I said, all that we were passing were cars of people who lived in Washington and trees so any childhood game was out of the question. Or wait... "How about Rock, Paper, Scissors, slap!" I said.

Immediately, me dad, Sue and Seth all exclaimed no. "Why?" I complained

"Because if he slaps you, you'll get hurt," my dad said.

"And if you slap him you could break you're hand," Sue continued.

"Plus if you come back with something as little as a paper cut Embry will kill me," Seth finished. "Oh, and if you get hurt we'll have to the hospital and miss the wedding."

Ah, he caught on to my master plan. Crap. But from the look that I saw in my dad's eyes through the rearview mirror, I had a feeling he would be glad to get out of the wedding.

"Then just, Rock, Paper, Scissors!" I asked.

He nodded; we started to play. He won mostly, but then again, I always sucked at these games. Apparently at the beginning when you say the three choices, I emphasize the one I pick. I never really picked up on it but I suppose everyone else does because I always lose.

We played for the rest of the drive and then pulled into the Cullen's long driveway. There was a field near the house that was being used as a parking lot. I have to say, if the driveway was any indication to how the wedding was going to be, it was going to be a damn lavish wedding.

I tried not to gasp as we came into view of the house. It was _huge_! No exaggeration. And most of the exterior were windows. It was a beautiful, breath-taking house, I must admit. But seriously? Why would vampires need such a huge house? It's not like they sleep so they wouldn't need a bedroom. Oh wait, never mind Ew...

I better stop thinking now before I get out of the car. That stupid bloodsucker can read minds, or so I've been told.

"You guys ready?" My dad asked, cutting the engine.

"As ready as I'm ever going to be," I groaned.

Dad sent me a warning look. "Be nice, and polite. Okay? As much as I dislike Carlisle for what he is, he is... a good person," he didn't look too happy about having to admit that, "and Bella is a family friend so _don't _do anything stupid or mean to her."

I rolled my eyes. "God, you sound like Embry! I'll be good."

And hell now began. I wondered if Jake had decided if he was coming or not...


	6. Weddings Sigh

**Okay guys, I'm so sorry for taking forever to update but this week is exam week so I've been studying a lot... Hopefully the next update will some sooner... Thanks to everyone who reviewed :D Please enjoy...**

**Chapter 6**

I thought the outside of the Cullen's house was beautiful, but wow, the inside was spectacular. It would have taken a human at least a week to get it decorated like this! Guess it's a good thing that vampires did it... Even though I'd hate to admit it, I definitely wouldn't mind having whoever planned this wedding as my wedding planner. Not that Embry would ever agree.

I short black-haired girl with a pixie cut and a smile larger than her whole body greeted us and took our coats, escorting us to the living room, where the wedding was taking place. Seth told me her name was Alice.

The wedding, as most were, was completely boring. Then again, maybe if I at least somewhat liked at least one of the people that were getting married, I might have been more interested.

Soon came the time to congratulate the happy – and stupid, life-ruining – couple. Bella greeted my dad and Billy happily and politely. But I didn't miss her glancing behind them to see if Jake had come. Yeah bitch, 'cause he totally owes it to you to come to your stupid wedding after you broke his damn heart.

I caught Edward glaring at me from the corner of my eye. _Shit_. Of course Embry would forget to remind me he read minds. Maybe if I just congratulated him in my head I wouldn't have to go through the shit of coming up with something to say out loud.

Nah, that would be a bad idea, I'd most-likely say something bad about Bella and he'd get pissed and eat me. Then Embry would get pissed at me for pissing off a bloodsucker after I promised I wouldn't. Then again I'd be dead so it wouldn't matter much.

Edward was smirking and I could see he was trying his best not to laugh as he thanked my dad, Billy and Sue for their halfhearted congratulations. Damn, I don't know how Bella could deal with him reading her thoughts all the fucking time. I've been going through it for two seconds and it's beyond awkward. Yeah, Edward, I know you're listening.

Seth was next to congratulate them, he was all happy and excited as he wished them good luck and chatted with Edward. Bella was standing there smiling at him, then she finally asked, a little sadly, "So Jake isn't going to come?"

Seth smiled sadly at her. "I don't think so sorry."

She sighed wistfully but continued to look happy. Seriously, what the hell? Your husband is right there and you're sighing over an ex not coming to your damn wedding? Even though he wasn't really her ex, I mean they kissed like what? Twice? While she was with him? Whore.

I heard Edward growl lowly at me. Seth shot me a warning glance, obviously uncomfortable with telling Edward to chill. What a horrible cousin I have. So I forced a huge smile and said lowly, "I'm sorry, but you can't control my private thoughts, just hear them. So don't get mad, I'm entitled to my opinion."

Bella and Seth, along with the adults who were slightly ahead of us, ready to go to the backyard for the reception, looked at us, bewildered. I smiled even bigger as Bella asked, "What was that?"

Ha, she hadn't even heard me. That was good though, I probably shouldn't be a total bitch to her on her wedding day. So I smiled even larger. "Nothing! Congratulations on getting married. You look really beautiful in your dress!" Okay, so I was bullshitting in that stupid voice people always used at wedding. But that wasn't that big of a deal; everyone did it. Plus, she did look really pretty in her dress. A little pale but maybe that was just to get used to it...

She looked really baffled by how nice I was to her, which offended me. I was never even mean to her, not to her face at least. So why was she surprised I wasn't being bitchy. It made me wonder what Jake had told her about me. Stupid wolf butt!

"Um, thank you so much," she replied. "Thanks for coming. I didn't think you were going to."

Yeah, well it wasn't like I wanted to. I had a feeling though if all this vamp and wolf shit hadn't gone down, I probably would have liked Bella eventually. We were kind of close growing up when she would come and visit – although she probably only saw me as the annoying little girl her dad stuck her with – however she hadn't even remembered me when Jake had introduced us. Although until my dad told me who she was, I hadn't remembered her either. And she most-likely would have just thought I was some slut anyway. But whatever.

But seriously, what could I even say to her. "Wouldn't miss it for the world" would not work. She probably knew I didn't want to be here. Decisions, decisions.

"You're welcome. It was a really nice wedding." Oh yeah, I'm smooth. We chatted for a bit more before we headed for the reception.

After the congratulations, much to my surprise, there was a _bunch_ of food. I looked at Seth, confused. "I thought vampires didn't eat?" I whispered.

He smirked. "It's a reception and all the guests are human except for like what? Five? Six? Of course there's going to be food."

I laughed at my own stupidity. I guess it would look kind of suspicious and very inhospitable if they didn't have food. Although it was a very formal looking wedding, not everyone was sitting down at the dinner – after the speeches of course – so I decided to walk around. I still had phases where I didn't want to eat anything. Everyone made me though so normally I was stuck having to force myself through the nausea.

Here, I didn't have to. I walked aimlessly around the place. A scrawny, lanky kid approached me, smiling at me, "Hi, I'm Mike."

"Sophie," I introduced myself, not sure what to say.

"You can't be here by yourself?" he asked, gesturing to the nothing beside me. The dude seriously needed new pickup lines.

"Yeah, my boyfriend didn't want to come," I said vaguely.

He grinned in what I'm sure he thought was sexy. Let me tell you, it wasn't. "Well, if you need a dancing partner, let me know."

I scoffed. "Uh, no thank you."

Before he had time to react, a somewhat tall brunette came over and clung to his arm. "Mikey, honey, what are you doing over here?" She shot me a possesive glare and I fought back a snort. Was this really the type of guy Forks girls fought over? They needed to come to La Push...What a pig, too. He had a girlfriend and he was flirting with me?

As I walked away I knew that the most pathetic part was that a few months ago he would've been my type. Well, not actually, but I still would have danced with him if he proved to be a good kisser.

There was that short vampire girl, Alice and a tall blonde haired guy, who I was sure was also a bloodsucker, standing at one the tables laughing and smiling. I knew Embry would be pissed if I walked over, but I was really bored so I walked over anyway.

I smiled boldly at them. "Hello."

The blond immediately looked uncomfortable but Alice smiled encouragingly at him and them boldly at me. "Hi, I'm Alice and this is Jasper, we're Edward's siblings."

Jasper smiled shyly at me. "Howdy."

I was a bit taken back. They were pretty friendly vampires. "I'm Sophie, kind of Bella's friend,well more of an acquaintance."

"Really?" Alice asked, with interest – although I'm not sure if it was real or not. "How do you know Bella?"

"Well, my dad is friends with her dad but I know her through Jake," I replied.

They both seemed to stiffen slightly. "Oh," Alice said quietly.

I nodded. "Some bad blood there, huh?" I said lightly.

"So what made you decide to come and talk to us?" Jasper asked kind of awkwardly. The words themselves seemed kind of rude, but the way he said them really weren't. Maybe the pack had it all wrong. The Cullen's were pretty cool, it was Bella who was evil.

"I'm really bored and I figured I'd see if you were all really as bad as I'm told." The words made then instantly look alarmed so I added quickly, "I'm Embry's imprint so I hear a lot about you."

Some of their friendliness was definitely gone when I said imprint but Alice was still chummy. "Aren't you a little creeped out about that?" Jasper questioned.

Suddenly I got why they were so awkward. They were wondering how I was okay with them being bloodsucking monsters. I laughed and said quietly, "My boyfriends a giant wolf, I'm pretty sure people who live off animal blood isn't too far fetched."

Jasper smirked at me.

"But don't think about me saying that! Besides Seth everyone will think I'm crazy." Just as I said his name, I saw Seth searching around the backyard for me. He looked worried. "Anyway, I gotta go. Nice talking to ya." I scurried away, towards Seth. It was kinda of creepy to think that I'd just had a conversation with two vampires and it felt normal. God I needed therapy.

"Hey Seth, what's wrong?" I demanded as I caught up to him.

He looked relieved that he found me and for a moment I almost believed that nothing was really wrong and that he was just looking for me. Then he said, "Jake's here. Well, almost."

I gasped. "What? Why? I thought he wasn't coming?" Okay, honestly, I saw this coming. But seriously! Why hadn't he made up his mind before so he wouldn't have missed the wedding. Then I realized that it made no sense as to why Seth was so worried. "Seth? Why are you so worried?"

He bit his lip. "I don't know. I just have a bad feeling, he's on his way. But so is the pack."

"Why would they come?"

"To stop Jake from doing something stupid," he said simply.

My heart sped up as I realized he was right. Would Jake cause a scene? Would he get himself hurt? Oh god. Seth must have noticed that I was getting worried because he strained a smile and told me, "Come on, everyone's started to dance. Plus Embry will kill me if I don't get some of that leach smell off of you." He smiled at me and I blushed.

We danced for a while. I got a lot of offers to dance with other guys. I declined of course. After I while, I noticed Seth tense. "What?" I asked, "Is he here?"

Seth pointed in the direction of the woods and I noticed just near the forest edge, Bella was dancing with Jake. They appeared to be talking. I also noticed some of the pack, slightly hidden in the bushes while some of the vampires were in close proximity.

"Stay here," he ordered, heading towards them. Naturally, I didn't listen. I attempted to follow after him, but he was to quick. Before I knew it, I was cut off by a bare-chested brick wall. I looked up and saw Embry, in just cut offs, looking down at me disapprovingly. "Emmy," I said brightly, grinning.

His face didn't even budge. He sighed. "What am I going to do with you? Seth told you to stay over there. Why didn't you listen?"

He must have thought that something really bad was going to happen because he did not look even slightly amused. "Uh," I stuttered.

"And you were talking to the fucking leaches too." He frowned, shaking his head. "You're just asking for trouble, you know that? Now go wait over there, and stay there. I'll be back in a minute and I'll take you home after Jake's done."

I glared at him and stomped my foot. "No. You can't tell me what to do Embry."

He looked down at me, his eyes in pain. Instantly I felt guilty. "Please, Sophie. _Please_ go over there and wait. I don't know what will happen, maybe nothing will. But I can't let there be a chance you'll get hurt."

I shot him a small smile. "Okay..." I reached up on my tip toes and kissed him lightly. "Please be careful."

He grinned lopsidedly at me. "Always." He disappeared into the crowd and back into the bushes. I stood there, quietly waiting.

Eventually I did notice a lot of people were drawing their attention to where Jake and Bella were. I went on tip toes and just saw a brief glimpse of Jake looking extremely pissed off and holding Bella with uncomfortable tightness. Everyone was too tall for me to see over so I couldn't even see what was going on.

I wanted to go over but I knew I'd done enough today to give Embry a heart attack so I figured for his sanity I should stay where I was.

It seemed like forever, although it was probably only a few minutes, when I felt someone tug on my arm. "Sophie, are you ready to go?" Embry's voice say softly.

"What happened?" I whispered, too scared to look up at him. It couldn't be that bad since everyone wasn't freaking out over anything but still, us humans weren't too observant, maybe everybody missed a lot...

"Everyone's okay," he assured me, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me with him, away from the wedding.

o.O

Once we arrived at my house – after Embry had made me ride him home (not the perverted way) – Embry sat us down on the couch.

I curled into his chest. "Are you sure everyone's okay? What happened?"

He cradles me further into his chest, sighing. "Okay, well, Jake came and all he had in mind was to see Bella one last time. When he got there and was dancing with her, though, she said something that really aggravated him. He, uh... um, things almost got out of hand. But don't worry, everyone's fine."

I frowned up at him. "Then why didn't we stay?" I wasn't exactly complaining; I was glad to be gone. However, I found it really strange that he would pull me out of there if he didn't think there was any danger. Especially after he forced me to go.

He smiled sweetly down at me. "Because you didn't really want to be there, did you? Besides you went for the wedding and most of the rest of it... Plus I kinda missed you." His smile got more sweet and he planted a kiss on my forehead.

I giggled, pressing my lips to his. "Well, thank you then." I snuggled further into his chest. Then a thought hit me, "Crap, I didn't tell my dad we were leaving. He's going to flip when he can't find me."

He chuckled. "Don't worry, baby, I told the guys to tell him."

I turned my attention back to the television. I wasn't sure which show it was; actually I didn't think I'd even seen it before. Time drifted by and an old re-run of Charmed came on. It was the last episode which meant Wes Ramsey was in it. Besides a few hockey players, he was definitely my biggest celebrity crush. He was fucking hot.

I grinned up at Embry. "Guess who's in this episode!"

He groaned. "Older Wyatt?"

I grinned nodding and Embry sunk further into the couch. He knew we'd be watching it.

"Oh," he said as the commercials came on, "are you still coming with us to the beach tomorrow? The pack is going to be there and Jake, as long as he's still in the mood after... yeah, is going to bring Rach after she gets settled in."

"I'd love to."

**I hope ya liked it :) Review! Please :)**


	7. Rachel

Chapter 7

I stretched out across the sandy beach. It was really sunny, Rachel and Jake would be here any minute and Kim was laying beside me, back from her vacation. All in all, it was a pretty awesome day so far. The boys were playing football on the beach, running around like idiots. They were having fun though and after all the drama yesterday, I knew they deserved it.

Earlier Embry and Jared had asked us if we wanted to chicken fight... We declined, our current sun bathing was definitely fun enough for us.

"So how were the igloos in Canada?" I teased.

Kim laughed, swatting at me. "Bad because there weren't any!"

I frowned, pouting a bit. "Are you going to tell me they didn't have pet beavers and polar bears too?"

She rolled her eyes, laughing. "Sorry Soph, they didn't."

"Didn't what?" Emily asked as she sat down beside us in the sand.

"Didn't have pet beavers while I was in Canada," Kim clarified.

"Or polar bears," I interjected, "isn't that ridiculous?"

She just rolled her eyes and decided to change the subject. "So do you think Jake will come after what happened yesterday?"

Kim shrugged, she didn't know Jake that well. I nodded though. "I think he will. He's pretty mood-swingy and all so you never know, but I think he will. Of course he's going to be moody and a total bitch the entire day but... he'll still come."

"You aren't very nice to him," Emily chided.

I chuckled. "No, but I'm just being truthful and preparing you guys for the rest of the day."

We all sighed. They knew I was right.

"I'm really excited to see Rachel though," I admitted. "I don't even think I've seen her since she left for college. Every time she actually did come home I was sick or not here."

"Or on a date," Kim added with a fake cough.

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Whatever."

We lounged around in the sun for about an hour, doing absolutely nothing. It was nice. Not to have to worry about school, or vampires, or the wedding, or being dragged into the water against our own will... The peace didn't last forever, though. Eventually the boys got bored with whatever they were occupying themselves with – probably cliff diving, throwing a ball around or something as equally mindless.

"Having fun?" Embry asked me, wrapping his arms around my stomach from behind. Him, Jared, Sam, Brady, Paul, Colin and Quil all came over to us, looking bored. Obviously they thought Jake and Rach would be here by now, too.

"As much fun as I can have with a one-hundred plus degrees wolf attached to me in already retardedly hot weather," I joked, leaning my head up to kiss him on the lips.

He rolled his eyes, letting go of me and then took a seat beside me. "Whatever, if you don't want a hot ass wolf around I just won't be around tonight when your dad's at Sue's."

I smirked, rolling over to my side so he had a good view. "Fine by me; Paul will come if I call. Right, Pauly?"

The boys all laughed. "Of course," Paul said, winking at me.

Embry growled at him before pulling me onto his lap and roaming his hands all over my bikini-clad body. I rolled my eyes and leaned my head back to kiss him again. "You sure you won't be there?"

He narrowed his eyes at me but still said, "Of course I'll be there."

Laughing, I rolled out of his grasp. "But seriously, it's too hot right now."

"That's 'cause I'm here," I heard a voice call cockily from a little ways up the beach. Instantly, we realized who it was. He did decide to show up.

"Jake!" I yelled happily, running up the beach and throwing myself at him. Even if he wouldn't say it out loud or growl, I knew Embry wasn't cool with me clinging to anyone, even Jake, so I pulled away from our embrace quickly. "You came!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Sophie, there's finally a bigger princess here than you. And she's here to make me do whatever she wants."

I nod at Rachel approvingly. She laughed but I could tell she felt awkward with everyone's gazes on her. "Good for you. Jake's only useful when he's doing everything you tell him to."

"I'm right here!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

I smirked before linking my arm to Rachel's and dragging her back to where everyone else was. They didn't feel the need to greet Rach and Jake like I did. Rude assholes. "So Rach? Finally decide to come home, huh? It's been so long since I've seen you that I'm surprised you recognized me."

She snorts. "I almost didn't since you didn't have your tongue down someone's throat."

I scoff as everyone bursts into fits of laughter, even Embry. "Whatever, Rach. I'll have you know that I've been with the same guy for a really long time now."

We're at the group now and Rachel walks up behind Embry and smacks him in the head. "Took you long enough to grow the balls to ask her out?" Then she chuckled as Embry blushed from his spot in the sand. "Man, have things changed around here! Look at you guys."

"Don't worry," I assured Rachel taking a seat by Embry as everyone else took their turn to greet her, "Quil's still gay so nothing major has changed."

"For the last fucking time, Soph," Quil yells, "I'm not gay! I imp – " Sam kicked his shin to make him shut up. Luckily, Rach was too busy talking to Emily to have noticed our bickering. But then I glanced at Paul, and by the look on his face I could tell that it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Paul imprinted on Rachel. Jake's freaking sister. _This will surely be interesting..._ "Oh. My God."

I figured Paul would glare at me since my comment made everyone glance over at him and realize that he had imprinted. He didn't, though; his gaze stayed fixed on Rachel. Rach finally noticed and blushed under his intense stare. "Hi," she said timidly.

Paul smiled brightly, probably thinking some cheesy thought about how lovely her voice was. Yeah, I know how they think. "Hey, I'm Paul."

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, I think I tutored you." She didn't say anything about how stupid he probably was or how many times he probably tried to get into her pants; she just smiled shyly.

That made Paul blush madly and I knew I was never going to let him live this moment down. Although it was kind of cute. Jake, being the Jake he was, namely: stupid, slow and clueless, finally caught on to what was going on.

"On my fucking sister!" he roared. I felt Embry pull me slightly behind him which I was thankful for. Paul and Jake? This could definitely get bad. "I'm going to kill you."

Paul's head snaps to Jake like he barely heard him. "Sorry, what?"

Jake growls and launches himself at Paul. I scream. Look, his action was really surprising, I didn't see it coming. Thankfully Emily, Kim, and Rachel especially screamed too so it wasn't that embarrassing.

Sam, and a few the rest of the pack – including Embry sadly – drag the two seething wolves into the forest. For Rachel's sake, I'm glad neither one of them phased. She's terrified enough as it is. "What the hell was that?" she exclaimed eventually.

Kim, Emily and I looked at each other, not completely sure what to say. What could we say?_ Yeah, see that perverted asshole who you used to tutor in high school? Well he's your soul mate. So you are stuck with him whether you like it or not which you probably won't. We all got great imprints but the Gods must've drawn the short straw for you because you got the only one in the pack who is so much of an idiot that he should just die._

Yeahhh... That probably wouldn't make her like the whole imprinting idea. And telling her that her soul mate is a hot-tempered jerk who is in more fights than anything else – besides maybe sex – might not help either. But the sex part might. Maybe.

"Uhm. Well you see..." I started awkwardly. "Paul and Jake don't exactly get along that well. I mean, you know Jake, he just overreacts over everything. But that Paul, class A guy he is." Emily and Kim stared blankly at me. I couldn't believe I just complimented Paul either. Even if it was complete bullshitting... I loved Rachel and if the ass was the only thing that would make her happy, then we might as well get them together now.

And if there's any hope left in this world, Paul will become a decent human being since he imprinted.

"Okay," Rachel responded slowly. "Are they going to be okay?"

Kim nodded quickly. "Oh yeah, don't worry about them. They do this all the time. Anyway, are you hungry? Let's go to Emily's! She always has food."

"Kim, Em's here with us so clearly there's not going to be food at her house," I pointed out.

Kim glared; clearly she was just trying to get Rach away from the beach. Oops. "That's okay. I'll cook something if I have to."

I chuckled and followed them up the beach. "Okay, then we definitely shouldn't go there."

I didn't need to see her to know that she rolled her eyes. "Shut up Soph."

Rachel laughed. "So tell me what's been going on since I left. I mean last time I was here, none of these guys hung out _all _together, none of y'all were all together with the guys you're with, Jake wasn't obsessed with that Swan chick, and most of all, everyone wasn't so cryptic with their comments. What's going on here? This is La Push, nothing is supposed to go on."

We all laughed. It wasn't our place to tell her why La Push was all screwy lately. I wish is was, but it's not. "Wow, you mention all the things that change and you don't mention that Sophie isn't hooking up with every guy she can?" Kim joked in her attempt to lighten the mood.

I rolled my eyes but it worked because Rachel said, "Yeah, but I thought that was just too strange to have an answer. I mean, let's face it, you guys would've gone to your graves secretly loving each other, what happened?"

I groaned dramatically. "Well, if I must tell you..." Kim gasped while Emily shot me a warning look. I fought the urge to laugh and winked at them. "There was this old lady who appeared out of no where with a delicious looking slice of pizza. From Greco. But it was poisoned. I didn't know and I ate it." Rachel shot me an "I was serious look" but I ignored her and continued, "I collapsed. Embry walked by a few minutes later and was like 'Woah, Sophie's on the ground! There's never going to be a time like this to take advantage of her' so just as he was about to, I woke up. He had actual pizza in his hand, and because of that I admitted my love – for the pizza but he thought it was to him – and we lived happily ever after." Hey, it's kind of true. Me collapsing was part of what got us together.

"As lovely as that fairytale was, Soph," Rach laughed dryly, "I'd like to know the truth."

"And you will," I said with the tone the Elders always used when talking to us. "Someday, when the time is right, someone will tell you. And you'll realize I was right, fairy tales are true."

Kim and Emily shot me silencing looks as we entered the house. Shockingly, all the guys were already there, situated around the table. "Hey," I greeted, smiling. "Rachel has a lot of questions for you guys."

Embry pulled me onto his lap. "And maybe if you'd shut up, she could ask them."

I pouted at him but he just chuckled, kissing me roughly. "Get a room or get out," Sam suggested.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "You are a jerk, Samuel Uley."

He rolled his eyes before pulling Emily into his arms and kissing her. What a freaking hypocrite. I tell him too. "Why don't _you _get a room?"

"It's my house."

I clap my hands. "Well, looky there, you already have one. So go use it."

We glare at each other although I know he's not really mad. And I'm kinda not, but it is Sam and no matter what I will never be his biggest fan. I felt Embry resting his head on my shoulder. He sighed. "You know," he said wistfully, "for some reason I keep thinking that one day you'll listen to me. But, you keep proving me wrong."

I turned around so I was facing him and leaned up to his ear. Then, I whispered lowly into it, "I listen to you _all _the time. Don't I?" I smirked as he made the face I knew he would make. It's like the face you make when you moan but the sound doesn't come out. It's a complete turn on.

"All right," Embry sighed, "we really do need to get a room."

"Ah, no you don't," Emily scolded, smacking Embry with the wooden spoon she used to cook with. "And because you said that, I'm keeping you here as long as I can."

"See what you did?" I said in mock disappointment.

Things went by like normal. Rachel's presence didn't alter much. Until everyone was pretty much gone and it was just Emily, Sam, Jake, Paul, Rachel, Em and I. Yeah, Emily wasn't kidding when she said she was going to keep us here.

"So Rachel, how do you like La Push?" Paul asked nervously when we were all sitting in Sam and Emily's living room.

She shrugged. "Not that much, honestly." Paul looked upset and she quickly added, "It just has a lot of bad memories." Oh my god they're so cute.

I smiled knowingly at Emily and we fought to control our giggles. Rachel and Paul continued their conversation which just caused Jake to glare constantly.

"Aw, Jakey," I laughed, leaning into his side, "don't look so mad, you're going to get wrinkles."

It worked, he laughed. Jake slung his arm around my shoulders and grinned at Embry. "If you don't stop this infatuation of yours with me, Embry's going to have more than wrinkles."

I chuckled as Embry glared playfully at his best friend. Jake and Quil were really the only guys I could go near that weren't old or related to me that Embry didn't get pissed at. Even though he normally tried not to show it. "You're right Jake, I'm just so god damn in love with you. How do I live without being with you."

Jake smirked. "I might just steal you away from Emmy." He winked at Embry who let out a fake growl. "Ooh, someone's getting territorial," Jake teases, "bring it Call."

"You're on." I knew they were just fooling around but I still jumped back when Embry sprang over top of me at Jake. They play wrestled like two five year olds. I laughed along with everyone, bringing my feet up on the couch in case they rolled over them. That would hurt.

I smiled innocently at Emily. "If they break something, will you finally let Emmy and I leave?"

She rolled her eyes. "Not a chance, Soph."

Paul snorted. "Just let them go, Em. If not, Embry will be whining like a baby all week about not being laid."

Rachel sent him a quizzical look. "Do you always encourage kids to try and make kids?" She seemed amused though which Paul thankfully caught onto.

"Sometimes. Sometimes I even encourage hot college grads to try and make babies with unworthy guys," he winked at her and she giggled uncontrollably. I could not believe Paul Walker just said that. My mind equals blown.

Jake began to shake but I snatched his arm before he could make a scene. "Don't ruin this," I mumbled, then turned to Emily, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Paul. Will you _please _let me leave?"

Emily pouted. "Do you not like my company?"

"I do, but you can't do things that Embry can, Emily. I'm sorry." I bit back a smile as Emily glared at me, looking disappointed. Embry wrapped his arms around me and looked at Emily with his signature puppy dog look.

"Please let me get laid, Emmy. You'll be doing all the pack a favour."

Sam looked at her with his version of the puppy dog face too. "Please, Em, babe? He is so annoying when he doesn't get laid. I really don't need to see any more pictures of Sophie naked in my head." He groaned.

Emily's face twisted is disgust and she sighed. "If it keeps you from not thinking about doing her while you're phased, just leave."

We laughed and got up, heading for the door. Embry looked back and winked at Emily. "But no promises I won't think about her, Jake enjoys it too much for me not to."

"Won't even deny it," Jake joked making Embry growl. I pushed him out the door, laughing.

The last thing we – well me since Embry probably heard until we were pretty far away from the house – heard as we exited the house was Rachel asking, "What did you mean by phased?"

And here I thought my night would be interesting. Poor Paul.


	8. Last Day Before Hell

Chapter 8

When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised to see Embry laying beside me. I figured my dad would have kicked him out by now. He smiled when he saw that I woke up. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

I smiled lazily, leaning up to peck his lips. "What are you doing here?"

He pretended to be offended. "Do you not want me here?"

Laughing, I shoved his chest playfully before snuggling into it. "Of course I do. I just thought my dad would've kicked your ass out of the house by now."

Embry shrugged. "He never came home. He called and said he'd be at Billy's for the night... after giving me the condom speech. Again."

I groaned, hiding my face in my hands. "I'm going to kill him."

Looping his arms around my waist, Embry shook his head. "Don't do that. Then you'll have to go live with your mom and the pack's brain will constantly be filled with my fantasies of you."

I pulled away from his and smack him upside the head. "You better not be thinking about what we do while your phased." I crossed my arms across my chest, attempting to look mad.

He didn't fall for the mad act, but the blush on his face told me he did quite frequently think of our sex life. I can't really blame him; I think about it a lot too. But if I knew there were a dozen people who could read my thoughts, I'd at least try not to think about it.

Embry probably bragged about it.

I stomped out of the room, keeping the angry look on my place. I waited until I was out of his sight before a grin took over my face.

"Soph!" he groaned from the bedroom. "Come back here, I'll make it up to you."

I rolled my eyes. Horny bastard. Not that I was complaining. "Or you could come to the bathroom and make it up to me in the shower."

I heard scrambling and him falling to the ground a couple times but within seconds, he was in front of me with a huge grin on his face. Smirking, I patted his cheek. "That was a joke."

He pouted. "You're such a tease."

"You think?" I challenged, raising an eyebrow. I ran my hands down his bare chest and into the waistband of his boxers. I traced over the side of his not-so-little friend and immediately it starts to get hard. I continued until he was moaning softly and then remove my hand.

He gaped down at me. One thing I never did to him – of all the annoying things I did – was leave him high and dry. "I hate you."

I grinned, pecking his lips teasingly. "Love you, too." Then, I added with a wink, "Besides, I was just proving you right. It's not so fun having a tease as a girlfriend, hmm?"

Embry looked at me pleadingly. "Please Soph!" he begged.

I shook my head slowly. "Sorry, babe, we have to go meet Jake in ten minutes." So we didn't actually but Embry doesn't need to know that...

Embry continued to look at me helplessly which just made me smirk. "Go ahead you have ten minutes to take a cold shower or get rid of that thing on your own." I winked at him before skipping into my bedroom. I knew that was the last thing he'd do.

I threw on a pair of shorts, a tank top and a hoodie before going back to meet Embry. "You ready?" I asked, looping my arms around his waist.

He shrugged, walking towards the door.

I laughed. "Aw, is Emmy mad at me?"

He looked down at me as we exited my house and I could tell he wasn't mad. He's never mad at me. Except for when I starved myself or talked to vampires. Embry was still fidgeting and uncomfortable as we started the short walk to Jake's. I felt a little bad for leaving him hanging so I said something that instantly ended him being horny, "You might want to deal with that because my dad isn't going to be pleased when he sees you looking at me like that."

It worked, but he glared mockingly at me and threw me over his shoulder. "Emmy!" I exclaimed. "Put me down!"

Embry just chuckled. "Not a chance, love."

He didn't either, not until we reached Jake's short driveway. "Finally," I grumbled. Leaning down, he pressed his lips to mine.

"I love you," he whispered randomly making me chuckle.

"Well, I love you too, but where'd that come from? You aren't getting laid anytime soon. Wasn't last night enough?"

Embry sighed, slipping his arm around my waist. "I just wanted to make sure you knew, and that sex isn't the only thing I think about."

I rolled my eyes, kissing him tenderly. "I know, Emmy. I know you're just kidding. You don't have to worry about that."

He grinned sweetly at me before we entered the house. Billy and my dad were sitting at the table, drinking coffee. They both look surprised to see us. "What are you doing here?" my dad asked.

I placed my hands on my hips. "I'm here to yell at you for giving Embry the condom speech. Again."

Dad shook his head at me as him, Embry and Billy all laugh. I rolled my eyes. "Actually, I'm here to annoy Jake. Where's Rachel?"

A slight glare took over Billy's face and I figured that meant that he knew Paul imprinted. "Paul's," he seethed.

"Wow," I said in shock. "That was fast." Those weren't the right word choice... They made Billy look even worse. Oops. "I mean... you know, they're obviously just having intelligent conversation about... um... food. Because that's what they're doing. I'm sure. Don't even worry Bill, they aren't having sex."

Three-quarters through my babbling, Embry began to shoo me towards Jake's room. "You really need to learn how to shut up, babe," he teased.

I shrugged and burst into Jake's room. To no one's surprise, he was snoring away. Embry raised an eyebrow. "Did he know we were coming?"

I smiled innocently at him. "Nope." I jumped onto Jake's bed, landing on him – good thing he's a werewolf or he might be dead. "Jake! Wake up!"

His head snapped up but there was a lazy expression plastered on his face. His eyes finally came to focus on me and he gasped. "Soph! What the hell! Get out of my bed! Embry's going to kill me."

I laughed loudly. Of course that would be his reaction.

I glanced over at Embry to see him grinning. "I'm thinking about it."

Jake glanced up, smirking, and wrapped his arm around me. I shoved him away, not wanting them to take it too far accidentally and get into a fight. This just made him laugh and push me off the bed.

I glared as Embry and Jake burst out laughing. "I hate both of you."

After all the laughing subsided, Jake asked. "So what are you guys doing here? Not that I'm complaining..." The way he said it hinted that he would rather be sleeping.

"Well, I was told we were supposed to be meeting you. Otherwise, I'd be in bed with her and not here."

"I can hear you!" my dad complained from the kitchen.

"Good!" I yelled. "Guess what we did last night – "

Embry's hand covered my mouth before I could continue. I licked his hand but when that didn't make him move it, I bite it. Hard. He pulled it away quickly after that. "Anyway," I said in annoyance. "I wanted us all to hang out since no one's doing anything today."

"How do you know we don't have plans?" Jake joked.

I shrugged. "Because you both have no lives and Quil's too gay to pass up hanging out with two really buff guys."

They rolled there eyes, but eventually, I did get them to agree. It took a lot of coaxing to get Jake out of bed and dressed but it did happen after a while. We started walking towards Quil's house. "So how have you guys been?" Jake asked, a little awkwardly.

"I guess Embry's been fantasizing about me so he must be doing pretty good," I joke cockily.

Jake shakes his head. "You're never going to change, are you?"

I was about to say, "No, I'm not you," but I decide against it. No fighting today. "Of course not. Then you guys wouldn't love me so much."

"I know I would love for you to be less annoying," Jake jabbed. "But I'm sure Embry would be forced to love you."

I rolled my eyes but try not to flinch. I got that he hated imprinting and all but he didn't have to take it out on everybody else. "Fuck you, Jake," I snapped, walking slightly ahead of them.

It was quiet for a bit before Embry stated, "Well, I guess it wouldn't be us hanging out together if you guys weren't at each others throats."

That worked and both me and Jake laugh. I stuck my hand out at him. "Truce?"

He shook it. "Until you be a bitch again," he joked, ruffling my hair.

I stuck my tongue out at him before cuddling up into Embry's side. "So where was your sister last night, Jake?"

He glared at me, but it softened when he noticed Embry's own death glare at him. "You know, Em, you were a lot more fun when you just secretly took her side. You two are going to drive me crazy with this perfect couple thing."

I rolled my eyes in an attempt to hide my blush. Luckily he continued, "After you two left, Rach got really suspicious and kept asking questions. Paul caved and told her everything. She actually took it really well." Then he smirked. "And you should've seen Paul. He was so whipped that it was priceless. You would've loved it, Soph."

I snorted. Paul Walker whipped was definitely something I'd love to see. "Well, I guess that's good that she knows, then. Kind of quick though. Did she go home with him?"

Jake began to shake which made Embry pull me to the other side of him while Jake calmed himself down. His reaction was a good enough answer to my question though and I let it drop.

When we arrived at Quil's, he was still asleep. We took a more normal approach to waking him up – dumping water over his head. "Hey!" he yelled, sitting up instantly.

He glared when he saw the three of us standing there laughing our asses off. "Well good morning to you too Quil. I figured you'd be happy to be waken up by two hot guys." Then my face twisted is disgust. Did I just call Jake hot? Ew. "Well, one and a buff guy at least."

Embry shoved Jake playfully. "I swear if you steal my girl..."

Jake held his hands up in mock defense. "Please. If I had to be around her as much as you are, she'd be dead by now."

The three guys laughed and as much as I wanted to be offended, I was just glad we were all hanging out. Even if I knew it wasn't going to be a typical thing. "So we're going to steal you and hang out with you today Quilly. And you can't get out of it."

"What if I had plans with Claire?"

"Then, she can go find herself another babysitter."

Quil rolled his eyes, dragging himself out of bed. "Well I guess it's a good thing I didn't. What are we doing?"

For a few moments, we all stared at each other. What do we do? The beach would be boring and there's no sense of leaving La Push. Especially in case the pack gets the message that Bella is "dead". I wish the stupid bitch would just die and this mess could be over with.

"We could play video games," Jake suggested. "Quil's got the best stash anyway."

We all agreed and for the rest of the day played game by game. Like usual, I never won. The only thing I could beat these guys at is Harvest Moon and that's not really the type of game you win at. Plus, they'd never get caught.

I was glad we decided to have this day because it was one of the last days before everything went to hell.


	9. Hell Begins

Chapter 9

Everything had started out like a normal week. Just like things had been before Jake had gone psycho and left. We all hung out sometimes, but mostly everyone hung out at Emily's. Then, things slowly started to change.

It had been a month since the wedding and I thought that if something hadn't happened yet, it wasn't going to. The guys didn't see it that way. They all kept acting more on edge as the weeks went by. At first it was just Jake, but eventually all the other guys started being the same way.

Embry was the first one I noticed it bothering – which was probably because I see him about twenty hours a day. When I asked if he wanted to talk about it, he just said no. He did eventually explain everything to me.

Jake was convinced that as soon as it was announced that Bella was a leech, they were going to break out into a war. Sam and the rest of the pack had reservations... She wanted to be one so it wasn't actually sacrificing a life, or anything.

Embry begged me not to bring it up around Jake – dangerous subject and all – and I listened. This wasn't something I wanted to talk to Jake about because I didn't take his side. Bella's a stupid whore; who cares if she's throwing her life away for a dead person? I sure don't.

I groaned as I walked down the road. I hated things being liked this to be honest. Even if I had been seeing Jake more than usual, he wasn't being himself at all and it drove us all insane. Before I could get too depressed from my thoughts, I saw my cousin Seth rushing towards the forest.

Oh shit.

"Seth!" I called, running towards him.

He stopped at the edge of the forest, waiting for me to catch up. "What's going on?" I demand. "Are you okay? You look worried."

He bit his lip, contemplating whether or not to tell me. "It's just... um... Well, my mom was just talking to Charlie and he said that Bella was back."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Back? What do you mean by _back_?"

He shrugged, looking confused himself. "Well. He said that he was talking to her on the phone and she sounded bad. Got some tropical disease is what she told him. I guess she's in quarantine. But we both know that's probably not true."

I nodded in dread. This was the thing I'd been waiting for in anxiety to happen. This was the thing that would ruin everyone's lives whether they'd admit it or not. "So where are you going?" Seth was probably the nicest kid in the world but I knew he liked the bloodsuckers – and if I'm being honest, I don't mind the Cullens either. I also knew that his niceness could become his downfall quickly.

"I have to go tell Sam so he can tell the pack and decide what to do."

I let out a sigh of relief. Along with his niceness, Seth was loyal. Luckily that loyalty might be what keeps him from doing something dangerous. "Well, I better let you go." He nodded and started toward the forest. "And Seth?"

He glanced back curiously. "Yeah, Soph?" 

"Be careful. Don't do anything stupid."

He smiled at me boyishly and it bothered me how he had to go through all this shit at such a young age. "I think you should probably be warning Embry, Jake or Quil. Not me."

I grimace. "I don't have to worry about Embry or Quil. They have their heads on straight. And Jake..." I sighed. "It's too late to expect him to not do anything stupid."

He shot me another grin before heading back into the forest. "Everything will be fine," he called back. By the tone of his voice and the situation we're in, I know everything was going to be far from fine."

I heard wolves howling and instantly became scared. If I was thinking clearly, I would realize that it was just them telling each other there was news to share. But I didn't and I bolted in the direction Seth had came from.

I knew Sue probably didn't have any information to tell me but as my aunt, she was pretty much my mother growing up. And if anything, she would pass the time until I could see Embry. However, when I entered the house, the sight I saw worried me even more.

Sue, my dad, Billy and Quil Sr. were gathered around the table talking with grim expressions. I closed the door lightly and walked over to them. Their heads snapped up towards me and I didn't realize I'd been crying until my dad held out his arms.

I fell into them, not even bothering to ask if I was interrupting anything. Because I knew I wasn't, they knew about as much as I did. And that didn't leave much for discussion. "What's going on?" I whispered, using my best effort to not let out a little whimper.

"We don't really know yet," my dad admitted, pulling me onto his lap like he did when I was five. "But we'll find out soon. I'm sure everything is going to be fine."

"And I'm sure you're full of shit."

The four of them sighed, looking sad. "Who's decision is it to go after them?" I asked desperately, not sure if it was the Elders' or Sam's. "Can't you just tell them not to do anything about it?"

No one answered me but finally Sue, cleared her throat. "Sam will most-likely come to us for advice or our opinion but when it comes down to it, it's his decision."

Exhaling slowly, I pointed out, "Not if Jake has anything to say about it. He won't listen to him."

"He has to," my dad said with finality in his tone. That was his way of saying that there's no sense of speaking of this but I knew different.

"He's supposed to be the Alpha isn't he? Doesn't that mean he won't have to listen to him if he decides not to?"

It was silent for a while. "I doubt it will come to that, Sophie," Billy said, but there was worry in his voice. "Stop worrying about them; they're big boys now."

I snorted. "They're also all idiots."

Billy smirked at me, trying to keep the mood light I'm sure. "Well, Soph, you knew that when you started hanging out with them."

I glared mockingly before turning to my dad. "This is all your fault."

He raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"If you hadn't made me go to those god damn bonfires as a kid, I'd never have met them and I wouldn't be in this situation."

They all rolled their eyes. "Sophie," Billy interrupted, "I'm pretty sure you would've run into Embry someday and as soon as he imprinted on you, you'd be in the same place you are right now."

I sighed dramatically. "I suppose you're right. Imprinting sucks." Not that I really meant it, I loved Embry and lord knows we'd still both be in denial if he hadn't imprinted. It made them all laugh though which was the whole point.

It had been over an hour and even though I wasn't crying, I still hadn't left my dad's lap. I was still freaked out and being close to him at least reminded me one person I loved was safe no matter what. Our joking conversation had quickly faded and became quiet as their conversation became more serious.

I stayed out of it, trying to block what they said out of my head. More information on this just made me more anxious.

Then, the front door opened and Embry's voice flooded in. I was at first relieved, until I heard what he had to say, "Jake's gone to attack the Cullens. He's not listening to anyone and just got pissed when Sam said we'd wait for more information."

All the Elders' heads snapped towards Embry's direction, and mine did as well. I felt horrible once again. Why was Jake such an idiot? Was he trying to get himself killed?

"What?" I whimpered helplessly, not wanting to believe what he said was true.

As soon as Embry's gaze lands on me, his gaze became tortured. He hadn't known I was in the room and by his expression, I could tell he hadn't been planning to tell me that. Ever. I stumbled out of my dad's lap and threw myself at Embry, wrapping my arms around him and holding him tightly. I tried to hold back tears at first, but it just didn't work.

Someone else entered the house and until I heard the voice, I had no idea who it was. "Take her back to her house Embry," Sam's voice said. "Stay with her. Try to make her understand what just might happen. I have to talk to the Elders."

I felt Embry's body nod before he picked me up in his arms and left the house. Within minutes, we were on my bed and I was clinging to Embry. "Don't leave," I sobbed although he made no signal that he was planning to.

He pulled me even closer to him, tucking my head into his bare chest. "I'm not. Not right now, Sophie." He let out a shaky sigh. "But when the time comes with whatever Sam decides to happen, I will have to. Please understand that."

"No!" I scream, sobbing. "You're not leaving. I'm not letting you. Jake's probably already dead! I _can't _lose _you_. I'd rather die."

His body shook for a minute but he calmed himself down quickly. "Jake's not dead, sweetheart. Don't worry about him. It's going to be okay."

I lifted my head off his chest and attempted to glare at him. "I want the truth, Emmy." I'd meant for my voice to come out demanding, but it's hard to sound strong when your whole body is shaking from sobs.

He groaned. "I don't want it to scare you," he whimpered, tears forming in his eyes.

I shook my head. "Not knowing is worse for me. You know it is."

Looking tortured, he finally nodded. "I know." Embry rubbed my back up and down soothingly. "Seth said he told you about the excuse, right?" I nodded. "Well, Jake took that as a definite sign that she's changed and said that we should attack now. We didn't though. I mean, if he talked to her, she can't be changed right? She'd be insane, like those vamps we faced last year."

I shuttered, thinking back to then. I'd wanted to die that night. I'd stayed at Emily's with her and Kim but it still wasn't enough. I cried the entire time and Kim did too. Emily was the only one who tried to be strong, but as soon as she thought we were asleep, she started weeping too.

That's when I realized that that was about to happen all over again, and this thought made me cry even harder.

"Shhh," Embry whispered, rocking me back and forth. "Do you still want to know?" I nodded again. "Well, they got into an argument and Jake took off. He thinks that we should just attack but he's not thinking clearly. There may be more of us but we've seen what they can do. And that's what making Sam second guess everything."

He shook his head in anger. "Jake's like my brother and I want to take his side. But his side is completely wrong and by taking his side, I'm risking everybody's life."

"Don't take his side," I begged, pleading him with my eyes. "I don't want you all to get hurt in a war."

Embry bit his lip, stroking my cheek gently. "Sophie, please understand, if they attack Jake... Sam's not going to let that go and there will most-likely be a war."

"Then don't go to it!" I cried.

A ghostly smile appeared on his face. "I don't have a choice and you know that. I'm sorry that this hurts you. It kills me that this hurts you, but I don't have a choice. If a war breaks out, I'm going to have to fight. There's no sense in denying it."

I objected with my cries but Embry just crushed me into his chest and I felt tears drop on the top of my head. Great, I made him cry. I looked up to apologize but he captured my lips in his.

When he finally broke away, he crushed me into his chest again. "I love you, Sophie and I'm going to do everything I fucking can to come back to you if something does happen. Please know that."

"I know that," I choked out. "And I love you, too. That's why I don't want you to leave. I'm scared Embry and I know that's stupid because you're the one that has to actually risk your life but... I just..." I'd burst out into tears and my sobs enabled me from being about to speak.

"Let's not worry about this now, baby," he whispered. "We don't even know if there's going to be something. There might not be."

As if solely to shred every ounce of hope in his statement, a wolf's howl shrieked through the air. "No," I whispered in horror. Did something happen to Jake? Quil? Seth? Leah? Any of the other wolves? The only thing that kept me from going completely insane was that I knew Embry was safe.

Following my train of thought, Embry shook his head. "Everyone's safe. For right now." He sighed in frustration before pulling himself out of my bed. Instantly, I was cold and scared. "I have to go and see what's going on. Do you want me to stop by Seth's and tell your dad to come home?"

I shook my head, trying to focus. Embry needed to focus and he wasn't going to be able to do that if all he could think about was what state I'm in. I forced a smile on my face and shook my head. "I'll go to Emily's place." I pulled him down for one more kiss.

I kissed him with everything I had, not sure what was going to happen. When we finally pulled away, because of another – more impatient – wolf howl, I said, "Promise me you'll be careful and won't do anything stupid."

Embry kissed my forehead gently. "I won't."

"Promise me," I demand.

He chuckled softly although it didn't reach his eyes. "I promise Sophie. Don't worry about me. Bye, I love you."

"I love you, too," I called even though he was already gone. He heard me, I knew he did. Slowly, I managed to get myself ready and finally go to Emily's. Being there might not make this any better, but at least I'll be with people who are going through the same thing.


	10. Truth Comes Out

Chapter 10

"Everyone's safe. Stop worrying Sophie," Emily said gently.

I nodded but didn't say a thing because all her words did was remind me of Embry. _Everyone's fine. For right now. _Namely, everyone might not be fine in a few days. Possibly a few hours.

If a random person had been observing us, they may have thought everything was normal. Emily was humming to herself as she cooked food in the kitchen. Kim was doing a crossword puzzle at the kitchen table while I was watching something on television.

It wasn't normal for us though. Emily's hums were distant with little emotion and her food quantities weren't huge masses. She didn't think they'd all be back anytime soon. And Kim never did crossword puzzles; she hated them. As for me, there was no way I'd normally be watching a show as mind-numbingly stupid as Jersey Shore.

Even Claire, who was three and didn't have the slightest clue of what was going on, was on edge and scared. She cried a lot and complained. But having to take care of her at least gave me something to do. Plus, she reminded me of Quil which – as saddening as it was – was a little comforting.

I heard her start crying again and drag myself into the guest room where she was asleep. "I'll get her," Emily said but I just waved her off. There was nothing else I could do.

"What's wrong?" I asked the little girl softly when I entered the room.

"I had nightmare," she told me, her face stained with tears. "Qwil hurt."

My heart stopped; I wasn't sure what to say because quite honestly, he could have been hurt. The howls weren't loud enough for us to hear if they were anywhere near the Cullens house. Clearly, I couldn't tell a three year old that, though. "It was just a dream, sweetie. Quil's fine. Go back to bed."

She didn't. She just cried more. Eventually, she did cry herself out but I sat there for a good hour watching her cry. This whole thing fucking sucked. We couldn't do a damn thing. All we could do was sit back and wait for someone to come to the door and tell us that we would never see whichever pack member got hurt again.

I wondered if this was how military wives and families felt constantly...

Emily and Kim didn't have to speak for me to know they were thinking the same thing. They were better at faking it than me and tried to keep upbeat. They didn't do a good job at it but at least they attempted to be normal.

"She had a dream Quil was hurt," I explained, surprised at the complete lack of emotion in my voice. Of course, I knew that imprints would feel if their loved one was hurt or dead. The way Claire was acting could lead to either one. Was her dream the imprint telling her Quil was hurt? Or worse? 

"She's just worried, Sophie; don't look so far into it. Quil is fine. If he wasn't, we would've heard by now." The uncertainty in her voice defeats her attempt to sooth me.

"No," I snapped angrily. "We don't. We don't know a damn thing. All we know is that Jared, Sam and Embry are okay because if not we'd be worse than this. We know nothing about what the fuck is going on out there or if any of the other wolves are hurt. Or dead." I knew I was about to cry so quickly I turned and stormed out of the kitchen and onto the front porch.

I couldn't stand being in there. Kim and Emily were two of my best friends but when they were being cheery in a situation like this, I couldn't stand it. Sure they weren't as cheerful as usual, but they sure as hell weren't looking at this realistically.

I collapsed onto the bench and stared at the woods.

At any given moment, one of our friends could die. One of our own family members over something that is so freaking stupid. Why did they call them the second time? What happened that changed how things were?

I kept staring intently at the woods, praying that at any given moment they would all walk out laughing and chirping at each other like usual. But they didn't. I sat there for at least a few hours and they didn't.

Glancing up, I saw Emily come out the front door. "How are you feeling?" she asked quietly, taking a seat beside me.

"You already know," I whispered.

She pulled me into a hug. "It'll be okay Sophie."

I was about to tell her it wouldn't be but I realized that that wasn't going to make anything easier. It was just going to make us all more upset. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's all right." She patted my back lightly. "Come on, Kim and I are going to bed. You should get some sleep."

I agreed and followed her back into the house. I slept on the couch because I wanted to be alone but I might as well have been sleeping on concrete. I didn't even come close to sleep. It wasn't because the couch was uncomfortable – it wasn't at all. It was because every time I heard the slightest noise I wondered if it was them.

I was usually wrong, but finally it was them. It was half past four and there was only four of them. Quil, Sam, Jared, and... thankfully, Embry. At first I worried that the others were hurt but it didn't take me long to recognize the fact that we were all their imprints. The others must've gone home.

As they got closer, I noticed that none of them looked happy. Quil and Embry looked upset. Jared looked worried. Sam just looked pissed. They were just inside the front door when I sprang off the couch and threw myself into Embry's arms.

He wrapped them around me tightly, holding onto me for dear life. "Is everyone okay?" I asked.

Embry sighed, looking unsure of what to say. "Everyone is alive," he finally said. He didn't continue but I knew him and I knew he wanted to add "for now."

"So what happened?" I demanded, my voice shaking slightly. "Why'd you have to leave? Is everything okay?"

"Let's go home, Sophie."

"Are you going to answer me?"

He picked me up silently, nodding at the other boys before leaving the house. "Yes," he answered tightly, "when we get home."

I was about to object but I was just glad that he was okay and curled into him. There was obviously something wrong going on but if I had another five minutes of ignorance, I was going to take advantage of it.

My dad wasn't home when we got there, and I wondered if that was his way of giving us privacy or if he was still busy with his Elder duties. Embry didn't set me down until we were in my bedroom. After, putting me on the bed, he just stood in front of me and stared down at me. I sat cross-legged, staring up at him too.

I didn't want to ask him to tell me what was going on again, but I also didn't want to wait forever to find out. I waited and waited for him to explain but he never did; he just continued to stare.

"Embry – " I finally managed but quickly, he shook his head and lowered himself onto me. Positioning himself over top of me, he pressed his lips to mine. First softly, then more forcefully. I didn't try to kiss him back because I was too confused. I didn't know what was going on. For once, I didn't want him; I just wanted to know that he was safe. And by making out with him, I wasn't going to find out.

Eventually, he started to take off our clothes. That was when it hit me: whatever was happening was bad. He wouldn't explain; he was trying to have sex frantically; did he think this would be the last time we'd see each other? What the fuck was going on?

I shoved him away with all my strength, although it wasn't much. He blinked down at me in surprise and confusion. "Embry, what the fuck is going on?"

He sighed. "Sophie..."

"Don't," I whispered. "I need to know if you're going to be okay."

"But I can't answer that," he responded, making my heart stop.

My breathing increased as I tried to calm down. It took me a while to be able to say a full sentence. "Then tell me what's going on."

"I don't want you to know," he whimpered, wrapping his arms around me.

I pulled out of the embrace and got off my bed, pacing back and forth across my floor. "Well I _need _to know, okay?"

He shook his head, looking up at me with his usually puppy-dog expression. I knew that if this was one of our last nights together, I should be in his arms and not staying away from him. But knowing and doing are two different things for me. "It's going to kill you, Soph."

I gulped. That bad? "So? It's also going to kill me to have you leave without knowing what's going on!" He just rolled his eyes, frowning sympathetically. "You know what? I'm going to find out anyway. Do you want me to find out from someone else who can't comfort me or you who can?"

The tortured look on his face made me start to cry. Embry held out his arms for me, but I just stared at him, awaiting an answer. "Well?"

He sighed in frustration but nodded. "Fine. Bella wasn't changed, but she is pregnant."

Despite the horribleness I knew was about to follow, I burst out laughing. A hint of a smile appeared on Embry's face as I continued to laugh. "Did she cheat on him?"

Embry started laughing too but shortly afterward stopped. "This is serious... We shouldn't be laughing. No, she didn't. So it will be half-vampire-half-human."

"That's possible?"

He shrugged and I slowly walked over and into his arms. "I guess so. But... Sam doesn't think it's safe to have that thing born so he thinks we should kill Bella now before it's born. And now, that we're actually going to kill them like he wanted, Jake wants to protect her." Embry let out an exasperated sigh, probably at Jake's dramatics.

Only one thing he said really stuck in my head though. "He wants to kill a baby?" I exclaimed in horror.

Embry's eyebrows furrowed, surprised by my statement. "Sophie, it's not a regular baby. It's part vampire."

I glared at him. "It's still a baby! It never did anything to the world! It's not even born!"

"Sophie, please _listen_. It's _part vampire_. It's not going to be a happy little bundle of joy. It's going to be a freak, a monster."

My arms crossed over my chest. I knew he was just trying to make me see their point of view but how the fuck could I? They wanted to kill a _baby_. "It's only going to be _half _vampire though! And it's not like the Cullens won't be able to control a freaking baby! If full vampires can be good who says a half-vampire can't be?"

"We do, Sophie. It's too great of a risk."

"And do you believe that or is that what Sam is telling you to think?"

"Sophie," he warned.

I scoffed. "That's what I thought. At least Jake can say what he fucking thinks."

"Sophie, stop."

"No! Why don't you – "

"Stop!" he snapped, looking everywhere but at me. "Stop letting your fucking love of the god damn bloodsuckers change your opinion on this."

I felt like I'd just been slapped in the face and if it wouldn't have broken my hand, I would've slapped him. Hard. I jumped out of his lap, glaring at him. "I don't love them you asshole! I just don't hate them like you do! They're not bad people and if you'd stop and think for a second you would know that too! Besides, it's a fucking baby! How could you want a baby to die?"

"Sophie," he whispered, approaching me slowly. "Calm down, please. I'm sorry. But you have to see that it's not a real baby. It's not even a baby; it's a fetus. It's a fucking vampire fetus. That's not okay."

"Well I'm sure they think werewolf fetuses aren't normal but I bet they aren't going to start a war over it."

"We're not evil."

"Neither are they!"

"Sophie, I don't want to fight. Not tonight. Okay, I don't know when Sam wants us to attack them so please don't make possibly our last time together a fight."

I cringed. He was right. But so was I. "And I don't want you to kill a baby but we don't always get what we want, do we Embry?"

"Sophie, please," he begged.

I glared again, turning on my heel and storming out of the room.

"No one will take your side," he called, rushing after me.

"Seth will," I called back, heading for the front door.

Embry was right behind me then and I heard him intake a sharp breath. "Seth's gone."

I gasped, suddenly feeling light-headed. "W-where?"

"With Jake. To protect the Cullens."


	11. Betrayal

Okay, so I had to change the tense because it was driving me insane writing in past tense :P sorry lol

Chapter 11

"What do you mean with Jake!" I yell desperately. "How did Jake leave? How can Seth join him? Why did Seth join him? Did anyone else join him? Why the fuck didn't you join him? He's your best friend!"

Biting his lip, Embry sighs. "Come sit down and I'll explain."

"No!" I scream. "I don't want to be near you right now! Just explain so I can leave."

"Sophie, please, calm down. You're killing me."

"Yeah and guess what? This is fucking killing me too!"

He exhales slowly. "Fine. Jake's the rightful alpha so he can leave and have his own pack if he wants." Part of me already knew this but I never thought Jake would actually act on it. Does he feel this strongly about this? Despite me trying to, I can't see why. She left him. She hurt him. She abandoned him. Why is he still obsessed with her?

"If Seth becomes fully loyal to Jake – which he did – he can leave our pack and go to Jake's. Leah left too, mostly just to protect Seth because she obviously doesn't believe in what they're doing."

"_Leah_ left! Are you sure?"

Embry shoots me a serious look and instantly I know he's not joking. I guess if I'm looking at it logically it does make sense. Seth is Leah's little brother, and her only sibling. But since Sam left her, Leah hasn't shown many family values. Is she just that good at hiding her true feelings? God, all this thinking is making my head hurt.

When I don't say another word on the Leah thing, he continues with my other questions. "And you're right, I don't know if I fully agree with Sam. But I'm taking his side Sophie because it's the safer one. If I go with Jake and that thing turns out to be bad, I'm protecting something that could hurt you. I can't do that. I won't do that. If I go along with Sam, I'm keeping something out of the world that could hurt you. I'm keeping you safe. And _that _is the only thing that matters to me."

My anger dissolves and I start to cry as soon as I see the vulnerability and hurt in his face. "I'm so sorry Embry! I didn't look at it that way," I sob. "I'm so sorry I yelled at you."

He smiles slightly, holding me in his arms. "It's okay. Don't be sorry. It's a hard time."

But no matter how much I don't want to hurt him, he needs to know how I feel about this. "And I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. It's not your fault. But I still see whatever she's carrying as a baby and I'll _never _understand if you do kill it. Never."

His body stiffens and I know I've hit a nerve. But Embry knows me, and he knows I'm not going to lie to him. That I'm going to tell him it straight. That's usually something he likes, but I guess in life-threatening situations people's opinions change.

"Sophie. If it comes down to it, there's nothing I can do," he tells me emotionlessly.

Sighing, I pull out of his arms. I'm honestly not sure what to do. I don't want to yell at him, I don't want to fight. Especially if he may be going to fight soon. But I don't agree with what he's doing, and I want him on my side.

"Why can't you just take my side?" I demand, running my hand through my tangled hair. It's going to be a long night regardless of what Sam chooses to do, I know that much.

"Sophie, I just told you," he whispers, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. I don't like making him upset, I never have. His tortured face makes me want to take back everything I've said and pretend that I was okay with their baby-slaughtering plan.

"I can't," I murmur, more to myself than anything.

"You can't what sweetheart?" he asks gently, rubbing my shoulder gently.

"I can't be okay with you killing that baby and I can't say so without hurting you." I groan loudly, feeling the urge to throw something. "This fucking sucks!"

Embry leads me silently into the living room and drops down onto the couch, pulling me onto his lap. "Stop worrying about me. I do want to know how you feel about this. I just wish you weren't mad at me for something that's out of my hands."

I shrug, resting my head on his chest. "I'm not mad at you. Directly, at least."

We sit in silence for awhile. I can tell his mind is reeling with thoughts and scenarios but mine is immensely blank. Not even a single thought seems to process in my head. Embry surprises me when he asks, "Why do you even care Sophie?"

I blink in astonishment. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He sighs. "Please don't get mad. Just let me explain." I nod for him to go on. "Well, I've known you forever and you've never once mentioned kids. You never coo over babies, besides Claire occasionally but you get what I mean. You've never really seemed to like them. And now a baby you don't even know, that could be a threat, could be killed and you're against it. It happens every time someone gets an abortion."

I cringe at the word. "I never said I was for abortions."

He notices my hatred for the topic and instantly becomes worried. "Y-you didn't g-get one... did you?"

I glare at him. "No! I've never been pregnant!"

Relief washes over his face briefly before he rests his chin atop my head. "Then what bothers you about it?"

"It's wrong. The baby never did anything."

"I know. But that's not what makes you upset about it."

I sigh, annoyed that he always knows when something is wrong. Why can't he just not notice things sometimes? "It's nothing. I don't want to talk about it."

"Tell me," he whispers encouragingly.

"It was when I was ten..." I begin quietly. "My dad thought I was upstairs playing and he was talking to … my mom on the phone. They were arguing about some custody thing or something. I don't know. I still don't know what she said exactly but I've got an idea. He freaked out and started yelling at her – not really loud enough for me to hear if I had been upstairs, but I was in the living room. He said, 'well I don't care what you think. I'm glad you didn't get the abortion. _I _actually love our daughter."

Embry wraps his arms around me tightly, murmuring comforting words in my ear. I gulp and continue, "I didn't know what an abortion was then so I snuck back upstairs and looked it up on the internet. It's one thing to know your mom doesn't give a fuck about you when you're ten, it's another thing to know she wanted you dead before you were even born."

"Sophie, don't let that get to you," he whispers. "Your mom's a bitch. Whatever she said doesn't matter. She doesn't matter."

My lip trembles. "It's hard, Emmy. I hate her; I really do. I always wanted a mom, though. It sucks so freaking much not having one."

"I know," he agrees.

Not thinking over what I say first, I blurt out, "Yeah right. Your mom loves you."

He flinches slightly. "Yeah. But I do know what it's like to know your father doesn't give a fuck about you. I also know what it's like to know that you've probably talked to him before and he still never told you that you were his son."

I bite my lip, reaching up to caress his cheek. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't be complaining."

A small smile crosses his lips and he leans down to kiss me. "You have every right to be hurt, Soph. I just wanted to prove to you that I do know what it's like. And it shouldn't take these circumstances for you to feel you can talk to me about it."

I shrug, feeling a little less bad about what I've been saying to him. "But do _you _see why I don't feel right about killing innocent babies now?"

Closing his eyes, Embry nods. "I do. But Soph, it's really not the same thing. Not at all."

"Well I don't see any difference. I don't think you should kill that baby."

"Can we not talk about this now? Please," he begs. 

Exhaling slowly, I oblige. "Yes. Let's just go to bed."

Embry nods and without a word, picks me up and takes me to my bedroom. We snuggle up in my bed; I cover myself in blankets. I'm just starting to fall asleep when I hear three ear-piercing wolf howls consecutively.

I snap upright in bed, hearing Embry groan from beside me. I glance at him frantically but he just shrugs and tells me to calm down. "Three howls means meeting at Sam's. You can come if you'd rather not be alone. Em might want some company."

I contemplate my options. Go to Emily's and probably say something that pisses off everyone and gets me into trouble or stay here and worry incessantly over everything. Yeah, I guess I should probably go.

I slide out of bed and throw on a hoodie and a pair of jeans before rushing out the door after Embry. "And don't go off on a save the baby rant, Soph. You're just wasting your breath and we both know it."

Resisting the urge to glare at him, I follow along silently. I know his intentions are good, but he basically just told me my opinion doesn't matter. Really, I know it doesn't. Coming from Embry of all people though just makes it a lot worse.

When we arrive, most of the pack is there. Well, without Jake, Seth and Leah since they're no longer part of the pack, I guess. Kim isn't here but Emily is standing awkwardly by the stove so I join her. No one's surprised that I'm here but I can tell Sam was slightly hoping I wouldn't come.

They start their meeting. Namely, the smartest way to kill a baby. An innocent baby. Glancing up at Emily, I expect to see a similar look of disgust on her face. I don't. In fact, she seems to agree with them. I gape at her.

This is Emily of all people. She's the most motherly person I know and she's okay with them killing _a baby_!

She catches my expression and raises an eyebrow.

"You're okay with this?" I hiss.

The table beside us continues their discussion as Emily continues to look at me in confusion. "Them possibly getting hurt? No. But it's what has to happen."

"Oh so you think it's okay to kill babies too then?"

Everyone falls silent. Emily's eyes widen. Embry groans in disapproval. Sam rolls his eyes in annoyance. "Sophie what are you talking about?" Emily finally manages indisbelief.

"Well that's what you're all doing. You're killing a baby that hasn't even been given the chance to prove its own innocence."

"Sophie, for the last time, you don't understand, okay? You have to get over it," Embry says.

I glare at him. I know he doesn't agree with me, but he doesn't agree with Sam either. So why is he taking Sam's side? _I'm _his imprint; _I'm _his best friend. He should be taking my side.

_If your side wasn't so likely to get you killed_, an annoying voice in the back of my head reminds me. I push it away. "What? You don't like the truth?"

It's Sam's voice that breaks in. "Sophia, you do not understand. Obviously you are not going to. And I suggest if you're just going to make it harder on Embry by being around then you should leave."

I blink in surprise. Sam and I have never gotten along, but isn't it a law that you can't be a complete asshole to another wolf's imprint? But his message is clear: get the fuck out. I'll gladly oblige. Besides, he does have a point – if Embry's face is any indicator – I'm making this really difficult on him.

I shrug and plaster a smirk on my face. "Of course. I always did like Jake better anyways," I lie, stalking to the front door.

I hear Embry get up to follow me, immediately followed by Sam's cold voice, "Let her go. She's not actually going to go anywhere."

Embry whimpers but follows his alpha's command. I know he has no choice because if he did, he'd be chasing after me and begging me not to go. Because unlike Sam, he knows me and he knows what I'm planning.

Too bad for Sam's baby killing plans that he doesn't see what I'm about to do.


	12. To The Cullens' I Go

**Again, I haven't read Breaking Dawn in awhile so I don't really remember how it goes exactly and since I've added Sophie into the scene, I guess things will be different anyway :P anyway, please enjoy.**

Chapter 12

Sam must continue to underestimate me because I get home and still no one has called or come to find me. Slipping inside for a moment, I grab my keys. It's not until I'm driving across the La Push border that what I'm doing really hits me.

I'm going to a house full of vampires. I don't even know if Jake has made an alliance with them or if he's doing it secretly. I don't know if they'll think I'm there as a spy for them and try to kill me. Or use my blood to feed the fetus I'm so set on not killing.

Yeah... I really didn't think this through. But I never do and things usually work out. Plus I'm doing the right thing. I think anyway.

Finding the Cullens' ridiculously long driveway is harder than I thought it was going to be but after missing it three times, I do manage to find it. I don't know what I'm going to say. I don't even know why I bothered coming. There's obviously nothing I can do. But maybe I can at least get the truth of everything from Jake. Or maybe Dr. Cullen; he's always been nice. Then again, I'm dating one of their mortal enemies and the daughter of a coworker who despises him. Yeah, this may be harder than I'd planned.

Slowly, I climb up the front steps and knock tentatively. Carlisle comes to the door. His facial expression shocks me. He looks insanely worried and stressed and surprised. Maybe me coming will just make things – that are probably already horrible – worse.

"Hi," I greet awkwardly.

He nods courteously at me. "Hello Sophia. May I ask what you're doing here?"

Biting my lip, I shift my weight nervously. "Is Jake here?"

Suddenly, Jasper and Emmett come to the door with suspicious expressions on their faces. Oh great, they are going to kill me. Why did I come? "Why would he be here of all places?" Jasper demands, holding back a snarl.

That's a lot different from the guy I talked to at the wedding. I try to remind myself that they have every right to see me as a threat and that I'm going to help nobody by replying snarkily. "Well he's not in La Push... And I was, uh, told he was taking your side."

"Why would that bring you here?"

Carlisle and Emmett remain silent as Jasper continues to interrogate me. "Because I don't really think things through before I do them."

Jasper looks annoyed – and hungry – and is about to slam the door in my face when Edward comes to the doorway. He looks like hell. Literally. "Let her come in."

I gape but before I can say anything, he disappears into the house. The other vampires step aside and instantly I'm nervous. But what else can I do? Leave? I'm not going to take the pack's side in this and going in is the only way I can do that. Gulping, I step into the house. When we enter the living room, the other vampires – Alice, Rosalie and Esme – are scattered across the room, all focusing on the couch. It only takes me a second to realize a very sick looking Bella is lying there.

She forces her eyes open and instantly there's disappointment when she sees me, but there's also curiosity. "What are you doing here?" she croaks.

Biting my lip, I shrug. "L-looking for Jake. I guess... I don't really know."

Just as everyone is starting to be a bit more at ease of me being in the room, Bella cradles her stomach and whispers, "I don't trust her. She's with _them_; she's Embry's imprint."

I cringe but honestly, if she's this sick, will me being here just make her worse? Isn't that defeating my whole purpose?

"I think we should hear her side first," Carlisle says reasonably.

His calmness surprises me but I don't have much time to ponder over it. Everyone is looking at me, demanding an answer. "I'll answer anything you want me to," I whisper.

"I think it's best if we don't do this around Bella. _She _worries her too much. It's not safe for the baby," the blonde I believe is Rosalie declares, glaring daggers at me.

I nod slowly and am then ushered out of the living room by all but Rosalie. It's awkward, being in a room with six vampires. "Why are you here?"

"I can leave if you want me to," I say quietly.

"That's not answering the question," Edward replies, looking like he's about to go mad.

"Because, I don't agree with Sam, okay?" I snap. "I don't think it's okay to kill a freaking baby and I hate watching everybody follow him around like a fucking puppy dog because they're too scared to state their own opinion on this. At least here, I know Jake will tell what's actually going on instead of lying to _protect me_. I'm sorry if this is making things harder on you all. I can leave; it's no problem. But I _need _to talk to Jake. So please just tell him I want to talk to him. I swear, I'm really no threat to her."

It's silent for a while. Eventually, Edward whispers, "She's not lying." Maybe him being a mind-reader isn't the worst thing in the world. "But you hate Bella," he continues skeptically, "why would you want to help her?"

There's no sense of skipping around the truth because he's just going to hear my thoughts. "Well, I do hate her, honestly. I think she's an indecisive bitch who enjoys ruining peoples lives a little too much." Edward growls at me, making me smile slightly. "You wanted the truth... Anyway, my point is, I do hate her. But I don't want her to be killed, and I think the fact that they want to kill a baby who isn't even born is absolutely disgusting."

"I need to get back to her," Edward says dismissively. Then too quickly for my ears, he tells them something. By the questioning that follows, I assume he tells them to decide whether to let me stay or not. 

Esme, Carlisle and Alice ask most of the questions so they aren't as scary as Edward was. "Jake is out patrolling right now, but he will come here soon probably. You're welcome to stay here until he does so," Esme tells me warmly.

I smile timidly at her. "Thank you. But I don't want to be a bother, really."

"You won't be as long as you continue to answer our questions," Jasper says, a threat underlying his tone.

I nod, noticing Alice send a warning glance to her boyfriend.

"I don't understand why you'd want to be with Jake if you have a soul mate back home," Carlisle tells me, frustrated that he doesn't understand my thinking.

I honestly don't either, so I shrug. "Being soul mates doesn't mean that you always see eye to eye. I'm not going to take Embry's side because I love him; I'm going to take Jake's because he's the one that's doing the right thing."

After that, their interrogating stops. Maybe I finally convinced them my intentions are good, or maybe they just ran out of questions. "Do you want something to eat?" Esme asks in concern.

Not unless you want me to puke everywhere. "No thank you."

"There's beds upstairs if you want to sleep. We'll wake you up when Jake gets here."

Vampires don't sleep; I don't want to think of what goes on in those beds. "No thank you. I can just wait outside."

"Don't be ridiculous," she laughs, I can tell it's forced but at least her intentions are good. Why are these people so god damn nice? "You really are welcome here."

Everyone scatters out throughout the house while I take a seat at the kitchen table. Resting my head in my hands, I sigh. I feel bad about being such a nuisance and I do want to help. To tell them the plans of the wolves. But what if that ends up getting Embry killed? I want to help them; I want to save that baby. But I also don't want Embry to die. I _can't _have him die.

I hear the chair beside me scrape back which startles me. Why are these people all so quiet? I'm going to end up having a heart attack.

Looking up, I see Edward sitting down beside me with a ghost of a smile on his tortured face. "Sorry. I'm used to people who can hear me or at least are used to me. I want to make a deal with you."

I raise an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

"Tell me their plans and I'll ensure that Embry is not killed if a war does happen."

I stare at him in disbelief. The offer's tempting and very appealing but how do I know he's telling the truth? "I can't trust you."

"Why are you here if you can't trust me then?" he asks curiously.

"Because by being here, it's my life I'm jeopardizing. Not Embry's." I gulp. "As much as I'd love to help you – and I really do want to – I can't give you information that will get him killed."

"Fine. If he gets killed, I'll kill my whole family. Does that make you trust me enough?"

"Are you fucking insane!" I exclaim. "They can hear you!"

"I'm desperate," he tells me honestly. "I'll make sure he isn't killed no matter what as long as you can tell me their plan. It's the only option I have to make her safe."

I sigh, feeling sympathy for him. "Okay," I agree. "But I'm holding you to that. And if you don't follow through, I'll make sure someone does."

He smirks at me. "You're pretty determined. If your whole purpose wasn't killing the girl I love, I think I'd respect you immensely."

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What are you talking about? I told you I'd tell you and I thought you believed I wasn't here to hurt anyone!"

"I do." He stands up from his chair and sighs. "And I really appreciate that, but you're mainly here to keep the fetus alive. And that _fetus _is what's draining the life out of her." He remains quiet for a few minutes. "You can explain when Jake gets here; he should be here soon. Until then feel free to take any accommodations we have to offer."

I nod curtly before resting my head back on the table.

No one bothers me for the next hour, but I do hear something set down on the table. I pull my head up at the last second and see Esme exiting the kitchen. There's a plate of eggs on the table with a glass of orange juice. I'm not hungry or thirsty but I manage to eat some because I don't want to be really rude.

Finally, I hear a door open and Jake's voice. "How is she? The borders have been clear and I don't smell any of them."

Someone answers his questions and I timidly walk to the living room. I hide behind the arch of the doorway. Bella is the first one to notice me and instead of glaring, she smiles at me and mouths "thank you."

This catches everyone's attention and all heads turn to me. "I was going to come get you in a second," Edward informs me.

I nod and when I see Jake's expression, I instantly backtrack. He's pissed. "I'll, uh, go back then..."

Jake storms away from the couch and over to me. He grabs my arm and tugs me into the room. "You better be talking about going back home, Sophie. What the hell are you doing here? Embry's going to kill me."

"I'm not going anywhere," I snap haughtily at him. "And Embry can't tell me how to think, and since he's not thinking for himself anymore I don't see why I should go back."

He glares, then sighs in frustration. "Why are you so god damn difficult? Why can't you just be a good little girl and go home and stay out of this? Why are you all so fucking determined to screw up your lives to follow me?"

I frown up at him sadly. "I don't agree with them Jake. Please don't make me go back."

"You shouldn't be here, Soph. You should be with Embry, not me."

I roll my eyes and snort. "Jake, get over yourself. Like I'd lower my standards so much to ever want to be with _you_."

A smirk takes over his face and he shakes his head at me. "Nice to know you still have your humour intact," he says dryly.

"Jake, please understand," I beg him to understand, to not send me home. "At home all they're going to do is yell at me and tell me to shut up. And Sam will probably be so thrilled that I'm not there to 'turn Emily against him' anymore. At least here I can do something."

Jake looks around the room helplessly. He must be really desperate if he's resorting to the vampires for help. Luckily, I have them on my side. Anger takes over Jake's face. "Are you fucking kidding me? You want her here?"

I smirk at him. "Gee, Jake. It's nice to know how much you love me."

He glares at me. "This is serious Sophie. I don't want you to get hurt."

I want to tell him I'd still get hurt there. Not physically, but emotionally. And honestly, at this point I know that would be worse. Here isn't the place to talk about this and we have more important matters to discuss. "We can talk about this later, _Jacob_," I sneer. "There's more important things to talk about right now."

Jake's about to object when Edward cuts in. "She's right Jacob. She knows about their plans and we'd all like to know what they are."

Jake still looks reluctant. "Embry's going to kill me."

"He knows I'm here and he didn't try to stop me," I inform him attempting to keep my voice even. He isn't fooled and instantly his gaze softens. J

"Sophie," he starts gently.

"We can talk later. Right now we have business to talk about." Jake and I have had one heart to heart conversation in our entire lives and I didn't want the second one to be in front of the Cullens. No offense to them.

"Fine," he grumbles. "So what are they planning."

I explain everything I know about what they're planning. About how they know they're outnumbered and won't attack tonight. About their plan to come to the border and confront Jake and try to get Seth and Leah to go back. Once I tell them everything I heard the pack say, I know it's time for Jake and I to talk.

This should be interesting...

Everyone begins to discuss the strategy while I sit there awkwardly. Bella fell asleep earlier but it's a little comforting to know I'm not the only outsider here. "Thank you, Sophie," Edward says to me after they finish discussing the issue.

I glance up and shrug meekly. "No problem."

"We should go talk, Soph," Jake sighs.

I nod, not really sure where. It's either in the house where the Cullens can hear us or in the woods where Seth and Leah can hear us. Both options aren't to my liking.

"You could take one of our cars and go for a drive if you'd like," Edward offers.

I smile thankfully at him. More for the idea than his car; I'd rather take my own than someone else's. Plus, it makes me feel even worse for him. He does seem like a nice guy and he's going through hell. "It's up to you Jake."

He seems to contemplate the idea. "I'll have to make sure Seth and Leah can handle running patrol for a little while longer first. I'll be back in a second." He shoots Edward a pointed look before heading out the door. Edward leaves seconds later.

"Did that actually help you guys at all?" I ask anxiously once the boys are gone.

They all seem to think it has and even the barbie shoots me a somewhat sincere smile. Edward comes back in and tosses me a jacket which confuses me. "Jake wanted me to get you one. He thinks you'll be cold. But don't let him know I told you it was his idea. He'll be back in a couple seconds."

Nodding, I slip on the jacket and head outside with my keys. Jake is leaning against my car on the passenger side. I flash him a smile and throw my keys at him.

"You want me to drive your car?" he asks in disbelief.

I roll my eyes. "You're less likely to kill me and more likely to try and control your anger if you're driving."

It's his turn to roll his eyes, but for once, he actually smiles. "At least one person hasn't changed in all of this."

I sigh and get into the passenger seat. Yeah, too bad the two that have are my two best friends. Things will never go back to the way they were before. That much is painfully obvious now.


	13. Because You're Sophie

Chapter 13

"Why are you doing this, Sophie?" Jake asks when we're finally out of the Cullens' driveway and on the highway.

"Doing what? The right thing?"

"It doesn't matter if it's the right thing!" he exclaims. "What if you get hurt?"

"Does it really matter if I get hurt? Why do you care?"

He rolls his eyes. "You're one of my best friends Sophie. Of course I care if you get hurt."

I sigh and let an awkward silence envelope us. Staring at the passing trees, I wonder why I even wanted to talk to Jake. The Cullens would've let me help them without him. All Jake and I ever do is fight. With him, I might just end up making things worse.

"What difference does it make if I get hurt here or there Jake?"

He bites his lip. "You have Embry to comfort you there."

"I have you to comfort me here," I say, half-joking.

Jake smirks. "We both know it's not the same," he tells me, almost sadly. Sadly? No, I must be overtired.

"He's acting weird Jake, and it scares me," I whisper quietly.

He sighs and shoots me a sympathetic smile. "This is hard on him, you know. He's scared you'll get hurt. It's probably killing him for you to be here."

"I know," I admit angrily. "I don't want to hurt him! But you should've heard him Jake! He told me to shut up; he told me everything I was saying was stupid. I did say some bad things too, but he's Embry, Jake. He doesn't do stuff like that."

Groaning, I lean my head back on the seat.

"You just take him for granted sometimes. We all do. He's always there for us. Whenever. He always knows what to say and do. And he's always on our side." Jake shakes his head in frustration, looking anywhere but at me. "And now the one fucking time we need him to be there for us, he's following Sam around like a little puppy dog."

"Why do you think I'm so mad?" I scoff. "I hate Sam."

"I do too, sometimes," he admits quietly, turning down another back road. "What made you decide that you wanted to come here? Not that it surprises me, to be honest; in fact, I almost expected it."

I pull my gaze away from the trees and look curiously at him. "How would you see it coming? Embry didn't even think I would take your side."

A flash of hurt crosses over his face and instantly I know I've brought up a touchy subject. "You know, Soph. I know Embry knows you better than me, but that doesn't mean I don't know you too. The only difference is Embry is still in his own little dreamland that you're finally going to make the smart decision and I realized a long time ago that you never will. Because you're Sophie." He grins over at me making me laugh.

"Gee, thanks Jake." Then I drop the sarcastic tone and smile at him. "I really appreciate it."

He chuckles. "Anytime Soph. But now you have to tell me why you came to this conclusion or I'm going to send your smart ass home."

I roll my eyes. "Like you could make me do anything I didn't want to. But, Embry told me about the pregnancy thing I just couldn't believe they wanted to kill a baby. I could _not _believe my Embry would be okay with that. Jake, I've never felt any bad feelings toward him before. But when he told me that, I was so disgusted with him. I didn't even want to look at him. I've never been disappointed in him before..."

"You just realized he wasn't perfect, Soph," he says coldly. "You had to realize it eventually."

I want to yell at him for being so unsympathetic but I know that's just stupid. He's worse off than I am right now. He shouldn't be helping me; I should be helping him. So I continue, "I wanted to go talk to Seth. I knew he'd take my side. But Embry told me he left too.

"I guess I was always considering it at the back of my mind but he started feeling bad and being himself again. Then we went to Sam's and I asked Emily how she was okay with them wanting to kill a baby. Embry told me to get over it and Sam told me to leave. So I did. I knew I wouldn't be any help there and I figured I might be able to do something here."

Jake smirks. "So you're here for the baby and I'm here for Bella."

I laugh. "C'mon Jake, you couldn't possibly think _we _ could be on the same page without there being a catch."

Jake bursts out laughing, struggling to control himself so he doesn't drive us off the road. "Okay, I get the events that lead you to coming. But really, Soph. I don't get how you left Embry."

I cringe at his word choice. "I didn't leave him. We're still together obviously. And really I never said I was coming here, he just assumed it. He may not have it confirmed in his mind yet."

He shrugs. "Knowing Embry, he probably has. But still, it could be dangerous here."

I hold up my hand for him to stop. "Jake, to be honest, I'd rather get physically hurt here than emotionally hurt by Em."

Jake sighs and I feel his free arm sling itself around my shoulders comfortingly. "Was he really that bad?"

I shrug, leaning my head on his arm. "I don't know. Maybe you're right and I just expect too much out of him. It's annoying because I hurt him all the time and he puts up with it but he hurts me once and I act like it's the end of the world."

"It's his job to make you happy, Soph. It is fair Sophie. You're his life," he adds bitterly. I shoot him a sympathetic look; I know he hates imprinting.

"It's not fair."

"Life isn't fair."

"Guess we found that out the hard way."

He laughs bitterly. "You can say that again... But to be frank with you, by coming here, you're technically fighting against him."

"Edward and I have a deal," I admit.

"What's that?"

"If him or anybody in his family kills Embry, he has to kill his whole family."

"The pathetic thing is I know he'll actually follow that." A scoff escapes his lips. "You still have more ties with the pack."

"Embry's not being Embry right now. Emily thinks it's okay to kill babies. Quil... he's not a good enough reason for me to stay there."

"And what's on my side?" Jake asks, almost hopefully.

"Well, you're one of my best friends and Seth and Leah are my cousins. Plus, I believe in what you're doing." I turn my gaze back to the passing trees, wondering how long we can drive for. And if we're going to run out of gas. "So what's your reason then? You were ready to kill her so why do you want to help her now?"

He shrugs. "I don't know, it's complicated. Why do I need an excuse? I love her. You're the one who's leaving her freaking soul mate! What's your excuse?"

"Because I love you, too."

The car screeches to a halt and Jake flings around in his seat to face me. His expression is priceless; he looks scared to death and as amazed as hell. Suddenly, I get how he took my words. "Not like that, Jake. Geesh, what did I say about that ego of yours?" I flash him a smile and am surprised when he has to force one back. "You're like my brother Jake and I know Embry will be okay, but if I stayed in La Push, I'd never know if you were okay. I couldn't handle that on top of everything else. It's nice to know you're safe too."

Jake exhales deeply and then starts chuckling. He wraps his arms around me tightly, still chuckling. "Sometimes I forget that you care about me too."

I smirk into his shoulder. "I know. I'm a horrible friend and person."

His body sways as he shakes his head. "Soph, you're not a horrible person. Most of the time."

"I'm just not good enough for Embry."

Jake pulls back and smiles faintly at me. "You're his imprint," the bitterness is still in his voice, maybe he's convinced that he'll never imprint. "That means you have to be good enough for him. Besides, you guys have always wanted each other."

I want to hear him say it out loud because I know he's thinking it. "Jake, doesn't our relationship consist of us telling each other the truth no matter how mean it may be?"

Sighing, he nods meekly. "Yeah, it does."

"Then say it so we can move on. I'm sure Seth and Leah don't want to run patrol forever."

"Fine," he grumbles. "If he hadn't imprinted on you, there's no way in hell that I would've ever thought you were good enough for him."

"That's because I'm not."

He turns back to the road and starts driving again. "It's not your fault he's a great guy. You can't expect yourself to be something you're not because you think that's what he deserves. He loves you, with all the flaws that you happen to have."

I snort. "You're pretty flawed as well, lover boy."

Smirking, he rolls his eyes. "We're a good pair of screw ups."

I nod, laughing. He turns back onto the highway and I can tell we're going back to the Cullens. "So you made your decision yet?"

"Well obviously I can't send you back without feeling like a complete ass." He turns his head toward me and narrows his eyes. "Don't you dare say it." I giggle, shaking my head at him. "So you can stay. But be nice to Bella. There's a good chance..." tears fill his eyes and I can tell he's all choked up, "she's going to die. So please make things easier on her. If you don't, I will make you leave."

I nod, touching his cheek sympathetically. "I'll try. I'm sorry."

"This isn't your fault."

"That doesn't mean I can't feel bad."

He chuckles. "So I'm guessing you'll be okay with staying with the Cullens then?"

I wrinkle my nose, thinking of sleeping in a bed where vampires did it on a daily basis. "Well..."

Jake rolls his eyes. "You don't even think they smell bad. So don't complain. Besides, you'd freeze outside and two of us would be patrolling while the other slept the whole time."

"It's summer, it wouldn't be that bad." But I really don't want to sleep on the ground... "I'll never see you... you guys if I don't come to the woods."

Jake smiles and I wonder if he caught on to the accidental lapse in my sentence. He doesn't say anything, though. "You could still come out, obviously. Just sleep and eat there. Besides I'm going to come to the house a lot."

"Yeah, but I don't want to take your time away from Bella," I say awkwardly, not adding the part about her dying.

He shrugs, turning into the Cullen driveway. "You've always been a good distraction."

I raise an eyebrow.

"You're good at taking people's minds off stuff. Well, usually you do it by pissing me off but it still works."

I laugh, shoving him playfully. "Glad to help. You coming in?"

He shakes his head. "I should go take over for Leah and Seth."

I nod getting out of the car. "I'm sure they'll call for you if something goes wrong. And Jake?"

He looks over at me, tossing me my keys. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for the jacket."

He scowls. "That bastard told you?"

Shrugging, I nod. "I'm glad he did. It's nice to know you're not a complete tool." I give him a quick hug before awkwardly heading for the door. Now it's time to let myself in to a complete strangers home... "Night Jake."

"Night Soph."


	14. Just Wondering

Chapter 14

Although I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at this, the Cullens welcomed me back into the house and Esme lead me to a spare bedroom to allow me to sleep. She said for me to come down if I needed anything.

I thanked her and went straight to sleep, not bothering to change into the sleepwear she left out for me. I sleep well with no nightmares haunting me. That's refreshing. When I wake up the next morning, I pull out my phone that I put on silent last night and check to see what I ignored.

Eleven missed phone calls and eight text messages.

I check the missed calls numbers first. Three from my dad, one from Emily, one from Sue and six from Embry. I feel bad but don't bother calling them back or reading the three messages on the phone. They're most likely from Embry and I'm sure if I hear his tortured voice I might end up going back. Which is something I don't want to do.

The text messages are simpler. Seven from Embry and one from Quil

_Sophie where did you go?_

_Baby text me back! I'm worried, are you ok?_

_I'm sorry I didn't come after you. Sam wouldn't let me. You have to understand. Please._

_Where the hell are you Sophia? I'm serious! Message me now!_

_Sophie! Come on answer me :(_

_Please, I need to know you're okay!_

_Sophie, please, please answer me. I need to know ur okay! Please tell me ur not with the bloodsuckers_

And Quil's...

_Soph, I know you're upset but Embry is freaking here. Please answer him :(_

Sighing, I open up my conversation with Embry and type quickly:

_I'm fine. Don't worry. I'm not with them. _

Then I shut off my phone before I lie even more to him. But really, I could technically mean anybody by saying them. I wonder if he'll accept that excuse when I see him next.

I comb my hands through my hair and then walk downstairs quietly. Esme greets me with a warm smile and a plate of bacon and eggs. My mouth waters but I feel bad taking all their food without returning the favor somehow.

"Do you need help with anything?"

Esme shakes her head. "Eat first and then we'll see if there's anything you can do."

To my surprise, Bella asks me if I want to eat in the living room with her. She looks so weak and sick that I know even if I truly wanted to, I couldn't tell her right now. I force a smile and sit down in the arm chair beside her.

We're not friends; we're far from it. But I have a feeling that Rosalie wasn't exactly close to her before this either so for Bella's – and Jake's – sake, I have to try.

"How ya feeling?" I ask before taking a bite of my breakfast. I'm surprised the food doesn't bother her.

"I've been better but I think I'm a little better than yesterday."

I'm pretty sure that's a lie but I nod along and pretend not to notice. "That's good."

"Thank you," she says quietly.

I sigh. "I really wish you'd stop saying that. I haven't done anything worth thanking. If anything I should be thanking you."

She smiles softly and her lips are so chapped they look like they're about to crack apart. How could I not have noticed just how bad shape she was in? No wonder why Jake was so worried. "It's the thought that counts. And it means a lot to me. Especially since I know you don't like me."

I smile sheepishly. I've lied enough already and I don't want to have to do it again. "It's no problem." I struggle to make small talk with her but I think I'm doing a good job. Edward's been flashing me thankful smiles at least so I can't be making things worse.

I leave when Carlisle comes to check on her because I can't stand the sight of the medical equipment or her dying body but besides that, I stay in that chair all morning. The front door opens and when Bella realizes it's Jake, her pale face lights up and she says excitedly, "Jake!"

At that moment, I understand fully why he can't get over her because I know how good it feels to have someone look at you like that. Like you make their day, like they couldn't live without you. It's a good feeling and it makes you love that person even more.

Instantly I feel bad for Edward. He has to watch this on top of everything else. Poor guy. My thoughts probably aren't helping either...

"No, they're not," I hear him mutter from beside me.

Sorry.

"Hey Bella, how you feeling?" he smiles warmly at her making me ponder over when the last time I saw him smile like that. To tell you the truth, not one time pops up. If she wasn't married, I'd probably be glad he's that happy. But I mean come on Jake. She's freaking married.

Bella continues to try and look healthy while Jake continues to pretend to fall for it. Eventually I just can't stand it any longer and tell them I'm going for a walk. I grab a pair of pants that will hopefully fit Seth and head out into the woods. I have no idea where I'll find him but keep searching.

I call his name after a while and jump back in surprise when a light gray wolf pops out of no where. "Fuck Leah, you scared the hell out of me!" Taking a deep breath to calm my heartbeat, I ask, "Is Seth busy?"

The wolf shakes her head and disappears into the woods. I wonder if she's offended that I want to talk to Seth and not her, but she's made it clear since the whole Sam incident that she doesn't want to talk to me.

When Seth finally shows up, I throw him the pants and turn around as he phases and changes. "Really Sophie? Really?"

I turn around to see Seth staring down at me with a frown. "Really what? Don't pretend you don't know why I'm here. I'm sure Jake thought all about it."

"That's not the point Soph," Seth says, sounding way more mature than any fifteen year old should ever have to be. Especially one like Seth. "You do realize Embry's probably dying back in La Push. And your dad..."

I glare at him. "Did Jake tell you to tell me this?"

Seth sighs. "No." He looks really awkward though, and I know something is up. "He wants the exact opposite of that, believe me. But you really should go back. Think of Embry. How could you just leave him like that?"

I roll my eyes. "Seth, stop. Seriously, I wish everyone would stop acting like I left him. I didn't. I came here. It has nothing to do with him."

"But it has something to do with Jake," Seth asks quietly.

I frown in genuine confusion. I mean, yeah I was worried about Jake, but that's not the sole or even one of the bigger reasons as to why I came here. "Seth, I'm sorry. But I really have no idea what what you're talking about."

Seth exhales in relief before pulling me into a hug. "Good, that's really good."

I pull back from his hug after a few seconds. "Since when did you get so confusing? And why are you being so serious?"

"I... I just don't want you to hurt Embry."

"Seth?"

He forces a smile that finally looks like him. "Never mind. It's nothing really. Maybe I've just been thinking too much... So why did you come out to talk to me?"

"What I can't come out and talk to my baby cousin?" I tease.

He glares jokingly at me. "You're only a year and a half older than me Soph. But seriously, what is it? Couldn't stand the vampires any longer?"

I snort, knowing he's joking since he is the one wolf who doesn't mind them. "It wasn't them; it was Bella. I can only fake conversation with her for so long before I want my head to explode. She's really not as bad as I thought she was but god... have you seen her?"

Seth nods sullenly.

"I feel so bad. You can pretty much see her wilting away in front of you and then, you have to keep your thoughts cheerful too because Edward can read your mind and he already looks like he's about to commit suicide. It's fucked up."

Seth nods again. "You know you don't have to be here..."

"Neither do you."

"I want to be here.

"So do I." Sighing, I sit down a large rock nearby and motion for Seth to do the same. "Have you guys found anything yet? Do you think they're going to attack?"

Seth shakes his head awkwardly. "You really should be asking Jake this stuff... I'm not sure how much I can tell you."

I roll my eyes. "Jake isn't like Sam, Seth. And besides, I'm pretty sure I'll hear more of the truth from you than him anyway."

"Fine," he grumbles in defeat. "They haven't come up yet and we think you're right about them coming to talk to us. We're assuming it will be tonight. We just don't know how many they're going to send or what their motive will be. Jake's worried that since we can't read their thoughts anymore we won't have a clue what they're up to."

Nodding, I take in what he's told me. "The one thing Sam isn't is stupid. Sadly. Plus I doubt he wants to hurt you guys." Me maybe, but not these guys. That would make most of the pack hate him for sure. "And he's outnumbered with the Cullens on your side."

"Do you think he's going to just try and go for Bella and not bother with anyone else?" Seth asks nervously.

I laugh darkly. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you these types of questions?" He shrugs, blushing slightly. It makes me sad; he really is just a kid. Everyone is really. "But like I said he's not stupid. He's probably figured out that she's going to be constantly guarded, especially since the Cullens know now."

Seth nods, relaxing slightly when I say the words. "Yeah, that's what we were thinking. He's lost his plan of attack. It's just nice to know other people see it that way too sometimes. But you know, thinking that way, it's a shame you aren't a wolf too." I can't tell if he's joking or not but he's smiling the way he usually does so I laugh.

"Yeah, then Leah would hate me even more," I say loudly, figuring she can probably hear our conversation.

Seth snorts. "She doesn't hate you." I look at him dubiously. "She doesn't, I swear. She just... it's easier for her being like that, you know?"

I shrug. "I guess so. I'm kinda used to it now anyway; I don't mind. I'm sure she'll come around if she imprints."

Before Seth can make a comment, he jumps in surprise before listening intently to something. I raise an eyebrow questioningly at him. After another moment, he whispers, "Something happened to Bella at the house." I jump up in alarm. Did the pack attack? "It's not an attack. Maybe the baby did something?"

I shrug, feeling really unsure as to what to do. "Should we go see? Or should we wait? Or...?"

Seth bites his lip looking just as unsure as I feel. "I don't know. Jake's there so I'm not sure if there's anything we can do."

Or he can do. I'm sure there's something I can do. Even if it is extremely insignificant. "I'll go find out. You should probably go back to patrol or sleep or whatever you were doing."

Seth nods and jogs off into the forest while I jog off in the direction of the house. When I arrive, I let myself in figuring that everyone is probably really busy. In the living room, Edward, Bella, Rosalie, and Carlisle are no where to be seen. Jasper, Emmett, Alice, Esme and Jake are all scattered awkwardly throughout the room.

I walk silently over to Jake and ask in concern, "What happened?"

He gulps and shakes his head. "I dunno."

Everyone else seems to have the same expression so I don't ask anymore questions. After what seems like forever, the four come down the stairs and Edward places an even worse looking Bella back down on the couch.

Carlisle explains to everybody that the baby broke one of her ribs. He says it was a clean break so nothing is punctured or anything. Edward looks very mad about this; he's made it clear he doesn't want the baby. But to my surprise, Bella and Rosalie still seem completely on the baby's side. Definitely makes me have more respect for Bella.

Jake starts shaking though. He's beyond pissed about this. "And you're keeping that thing in there?" he demands in frustration. His whole body is trembling.

Bella looks up at him in disappointment. "It's not his fault that he's too strong for me, Jake."

He glares but before he can say another thing, I grab him by the arm and dig my nails into his skin. "Calm down and stop being a selfish asshole. It's her decision not yours."

Jake looks down at me in surprise but I can tell he wants to rip my head off. Okay, mad Jake is a very scary Jake. As I look over at Bella, I can tell she's really concerned and Rosalie looks like she's using all the restraint she has not to kill Jake this second.

When he continues to shake and ignores the Cullens' warnings, I push him towards the doors. He doesn't budge until I say, "Let's go for a walk. You aren't helping anybody." He nods slowly and walks mechanically to the door.

I smile sheepishly back at Bella. "Hope ya feel better." What else could I say? _Yeah, he's such an ass don't ya think? _I doubt that would calm him down any.

Once we're outside, I start walking down the driveway. To my surprise, Jake follows. "I know you don't want her to die Jake, but she's determined to keep that baby. Why do you have to make it hard on her?"

"Why do you care? You hate her," he hisses, crossing his arms over his chest.

Rolling my eyes, I admit, "I did. But right now, I can't help but look at her and feel sorry for her. I can't help but talk to her and want to like her. I can't help but see what she's doing and admire her. She's risking her life for her baby."

"She's convinced she's going to live."

"Do you know that for sure?" I demand. "No you don't. Hell, she probably knows there's a huge chance she's going to die! But she doesn't care. She's trying to do everything she can so both of them can live. And you being an ass isn't going to help her."

Jake stares at me in disbelief. I can't exactly blame him. I never thought I'd see the day where I stood up for Bella Swan – or Cullen, I guess – either. "I'm sorry."

"It's not me you should be apologizing to."

He sighs. "I know. I'll talk to her later."

We're at the road by this point and I suppose we'll have to go back. Jake sits down on the ground though and pats beside him. "I'm sorry to you too. You're just trying to help, to do what I asked you to do, and I'm treating you like shit."

I smile, sitting down beside him. "Come on, I'm used to you treating me like shit. It's kinda like being around Leah, I've come to expect it."

He rolls his eyes and shoves me playfully. Then his face grows serious. "If you were in her position and had to choose between dying and your baby living or living and your baby dying, which one would you choose?"

I don't have to think it over too much because that's what I've been thinking about since I found out about everything. "Dying and my baby living."

He seems a little shocked which makes me cringe. Ouch. "What if it wasn't Embry's? Would you still want the baby to live?"

I'm confused by his question considering there's no way the baby wouldn't be Embry's if I was pregnant; however, either way it would still be my baby and I'd still want it. "Of course. Why?"

He shrugs, pulls himself off the ground and starts walking towards the house. "Just wondering. I should probably go back to patrolling. We think they might try and come talk to us tonight."

I scramble off the ground to catch up to him. Is he walking this fast on purpose? "Yeah, that's what Seth told me."

"Tell Bella I'll come talk to her later. If you don't mind, tell her I'm sorry. I'll see you later Soph." He smiles at me before disappearing into the woods.

Sighing, I walk the rest of the way to the house. Today has just been messed up. First Seth was acting weird, then Bella got hurt and now Jake is acting weird. Can things get much more complicated?


	15. Without You, She's a Train Wreck

**Hey :) So I don't remember which wolves Sam sends to go see Jake, I know there's Jare, Quil and Collin but I think there's one more and I can't find who, plus my cousin has my BD book so I can't check... lol, so I'm gonna go with Brady :P**

**Chapter15**

**Embry's POV**

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, Sam!" I yell angrily, slamming my fist on his kitchen table. I'm going insane; I'm literally going insane. Sophie has been gone for a whole day and Sam won't let me go to check if she's at the Cullens. And on top of that, Sam sends Quil, _Brady _and _Collin _with Jared to talk to Jake. Brady and Collin are just pups. They shouldn't be allowed to go! "Why the hell would you send them?"

"Embry," Sam responds calmly, "look at yourself. Do you really think you're in any condition to have a civil discussion? You'd probably just attack him when he told you that Sophie isn't with him."

I glare at him, as well as Paul who nods in agreement; he is the only other pack member left here. "That's not a good enough reason, Sam! I wouldn't be this pissed if you had let me go! And I can tell when Jake's lying! I would've been fine!"

Sam sighs and I can tell I'm clearly annoying him. I don't really give a fuck; I hope he's annoyed. "Maybe I wanted Collin and Brady to get some experience. This is less likely to be a dangerous situation and they need it."

Okay, that reason does make sense, but I'm not just going to give in here. I need to see Sophie or at least really _know _that she's safe – and away from Jake – and he won't even let me leave his house or sight let alone see her.

I roll my eyes at him. "Yeah right. You know damn well Jake and Leah together can be dangerous as hell."

"If they haven't killed each other yet," Paul puts in snidely. Normally I would've wanted to rip his throat out but since he imprinted he hasn't been so bad. And I think his intention was to get us to stop fighting...

"Shut up Paul," Sam orders snappily. "Embry, you're Jake's best friend. Do you know how much it would kill you? On top of everything with Sophie..." He trails off, only half-sympathetic.

"Quil's also his best friend!" I exclaim. "Why'd you let him go?"

Sam groans and pushes himself off the table. "I'm going to go patrol the borders since Embry clearly isn't going to see common sense any time soon. Don't leave the house," he demands pointedly at me. With that, he storms out of the house. Emily's asleep so I'm not surprised when he shuts the door quietly. But honestly, I doubt a slamming door is what's going to wake her up after all my yelling.

With a defeated sigh, I drop down into the chair and rest my head in my hands. "This sucks."

Paul pats my back. "It could be worse."

I look up and raise an eyebrow at him. "_How_?"

He shrugs. "She could be dead."

Instantly, my body begins shaking. How the hell could he say something like that when I don't even know where she is? "Paul," I hiss vehemently, "if you don't – "

Paul smirks slightly. "Calm down. If she was dead, you'd know and you'd probably be killing yourself right now instead of just being really intolerable. And you're not, so clearly she's fine."

I remain silent but keep his words in my brain. Maybe if I keep saying them over and over again, I won't have to think about all the other things she might be doing right now.

_If she was dead, you'd know and you'd probably be killing yourself right now instead of just being really intolerable. And you're not, so clearly she's she was dead, you'd know and you'd probably be killing yourself right now instead of just being really intolerable. And you're not, so clearly she's fine..._

"Embry!" Paul says loudly, snapping his fingers in front of my head.

"What!" I snap.

He snorts. "I've saying your name for almost ten minutes."

I glance sheepishly at him, feeling a little embarrassed. But at least I know repeating that keeps be from thinking. _If she was dead, you'd know and you'd probably be killing yourself right now instead of just being really intolerable. And you're not, so clearly she's fine._

"Fuck Embry! Snap out of it! What are you so worried about?"

I shoot him my best _are you a fucking idiot? l_ook. "I haven't seen my imprint in over a day. No one has a damn clue where she is! She could be anywhere! Doing anything! I can't even try to find her! So don't you dare ask me what I'm worried about."

"She texted you and said she was fine." He bites his lip. "And she told you she wasn't with them."

I snort. There's so much wrong with his statement. "Text, Paul, text. Who knows that it was her? Maybe someone kidnapped her and stole her phone. And I know Sophie. Her 'I'm not with them' is pretty much her way of saying, 'I'm doing this to make you feel better and put them because when you confront me on it I can just say that I didn't specify who them is.' I know her Paul. I know that's what she meant."

Paul looks awkward. "Maybe you're just being too paranoid."

I roll my eyes. "No. Everything I'm saying is probably happening."

Paul rolls his eyes and then lets out an annoyed sigh. "Then why are you so pissed off?" Before I can protest, he continues, "Okay, yeah, her being near Cullens is revolting. I understand. But she's with Jake. Despite being a psycho asshole, he's one of her best friends and he's not going to let anything happen to her. He cares about her."

"That's the problem," I mutter, glaring out the small kitchen window.

"What are you talking about?" Paul is thoroughly confused. I wish he could stay that way and not push the subject – it's not something I want to discuss out loud. But even if he is more mellow, he is still Paul. Chances are if I don't answer he'll start a fight.

"He cares about her _too _much," I hint.

It takes him a moment but then Paul's eyebrows shoot up his mouth forms into an 'o' shape. "But... he loves Bella."

I nod. "He does. He also loves Sophie. Not as much, which makes it even worse for this situation. She's his second choice. And ever since Bella got married... I've just been waiting for him to make his move."

Paul still seems completely bewildered. "Okay, Embry, you are fucking insane. You've got to see how ridiculous this is! How do you know he loves her? I haven't seen _any _signs of him loving her. Ever. Besides, you're his best friend and she's your imprint. He wouldn't do that! He's not that suicidal." 

I smirk in disgust. "He's my best friend. Yeah. Because of that, I know how to read him. Even if he hadn't told me I would have noticed."

"Wait!" Paul exclaims in horror. "He _told _you he loves her?"

"Three times. Mostly because he knew how I felt and thought I'd be mad. I wasn't at first." Paul keeps shooting me a look to answer when. "Once before we were wolves. About two months before he started hanging out with Bella. I told him it was just the stupid crush he's always had on her – mostly because that's what I wanted it to be. He told me it was real and I just told him we'd have to wait and see.

"Then, after he fell for Bella, we were hanging out one day. I told him 'I told you so'. He was really confused so I explained... he looked really embarrassed but told me he did love her. Still. Just not as much as he loved Bella. I told him to leave her alone and forget about it if he loved someone else. He agreed and I figured after that he just stopped loving her. He definitely stopped acting like he loved her."

I remain silent.

Paul gulps. "And the third time?"

"You remember the first time he ran away? When Quil said something about Bella."

Paul nods slightly, clearly not liking where this is going.

"Well, that night it was just me patrolling and he was phased. He hadn't left La Push like Sam had assumed... We started talking. When I begged him to stay, he said..."

_'Embry, you wouldn't understand. You have no idea what it's like to have the two girls you're in love with love other guys and don't even consider you that way,' Jake thinks sullenly._

_It takes me a few seconds to comprehend their meaning. 'You still love Sophie.'_

_He nods slightly. 'Did you really think by telling me to stop I would?'_

_'I was hoping so.'_

_He snorts. _

_That pisses me off and I snap at him what I'm sure he already knows, 'She's mine. _Mine _Jacob. Not yours.'_

_Jake laughs bitterly. 'I'm well aware of that. But at the end of the day it's her choice. If she just wants the imprint to be as friends, you have to accept that.'_

_I glare at him, somehow restraining from ripping his throat out. 'She loves me.'_

_'I'm well aware of that. She's always loved you. She's never allowed herself to consider loving someone else.' Hurt thoughts run through my head and instantly Jake sighs. 'I wouldn't steal her from you Embry. I know she loves you and you love her. But I won't lie: if she came to me one day and told me she was one hundred percent sure that she loved me and not you, I wouldn't tell her no.'_

_Feeling my heart break, I admit, 'And if that day came and she was sure, I'd let her go. But I know Sophie and that's not going to happen.'_

_Jake snorts again. 'I know that Embry. She's made it pretty clear you're the only one she cares about. Believe me, I'm not holding my breath for her to choose me over you. In all likelihood it will never happen. I just wanted you to know the truth.'_

_I nodded. 'I appreciate that. But if you ever try to steal her from me...' The threat continues in my head instantly making him assure me that he wouldn't make the first move._

_'Besides, I'm leaving. You don't have to worry about competition.'_

_'Jake. Please stay. You know we don't want you to leave and you can't just run away from your problems. Maybe you'll imprint on someone around here...'_

_'Maybe I'll imprint on someone somewhere else.'_

_'You'll be back eventually.'_

_'Probably.'_

_He starts to run off into the forest and I need one more promise out of him before I can let him go. 'Jake. If you do come back, you can't let her know you love her. You can't show her. Not unless she makes the first move.'_

_He stops running and considers it. 'As long as you two are happy, she'll never have a clue.'_

Glancing up at Paul, I wonder if he's even bothering listening to the story. He is, intently. "Wow."

I nod. "See why I'm worried?"

"And with Bella either dying, or having a baby with her husband, his first choice is pretty much shot..."

"You aren't helping."

"Thought you'd want to hear the truth."

Groaning, I shake my head in frustration. "I don't know what to do."

"There's nothing you can do besides wait."

I stare at him in disbelief. How is he – Paul of all people – being this rational and calm about this? "You've changed."

He smirks with a shrug. "For the better. Besides, I definitely don't want Sophie as a sister in law." Finally, he turns serious again. "Stop worrying and trust her. If she does do something, that's a good thing."

"How in fucking hell – "

"Let me finish." He rolls his eyes at my impatience. "You'll never have to worry about her changing her mind. If something happens between them, she'll know what it's like to be with both of you and then she'll make the choice that's best for her."

"What if that's not me?" I ask, my voice cracking.

"Without Jake, she's only a little sad; without you, she's a train wreck."

He doesn't have the chance to say anything else and I don't have a chance to respond because the guys are coming up the driveway. When they enter the kitchen, they don't waste any time and get straight to the point. "Sophie is definitely with him," Quil tells me with obvious relief. Yeah, because he doesn't have to worry about what I have to.

_At least she's safe_, I think, but I know that's not enough to keep horrid thoughts from creeping into my head and use Paul's latest sentence to ease my mind.

_Without Jake, she's only a little sad; without you, she's a train wreck._

_Without Jake, she's only a little sad; without you, she's a train wreck._

_Without Jake, she's only a little sad; without you, she's a train wreck._


	16. Never Mind

Chapter 16

If I thought the pack was bad at informing me of things, the Cullens are definitely worse. Edward can read Jake's mind, as well as all the other wolves, so he knows what's going on between the two packs. Is he saying what's going on? Yes. Is he speaking way too fast for human ears to catch? Why, of course. The only upside of the last half hour has been that Bella is just as clueless as I am.

At least I have someone to sympathize with.

"Doesn't it ever annoy you how they tell you nothing?" I ask, frowning at the circle of vampires on the other side of the room.

She tries to laugh but it comes out dry and weak. Damn, she's getting worse. "All the time. You get used to it."

I snort. "Not gonna happen."

I get a glare from Edward which I take as a _shut up and let her sleep _message. "You should, uh, probably get some sleep..."

A ghostly smile appears on her face as she nods. "Wake me up if they actually tell you anything," she jokes.

"All right," I nod. "I'll wake you up next year then."

When Bella falls asleep, I sit awkwardly as I try to listen to what they're saying. After about twenty minutes, the only word I've caught is Jared. That doesn't help me much. In fact, it just makes me feel bad since I haven't contacted Kim. I'm sure she'll understand, though.

I continue sitting, perched on the edge of the arm chair. The clock ticks loudly from the kitchen, or maybe it just sounds loud since they're being unbearably quiet talking to each other. Sighing, I lean back and wonder how much longer Jake will be.

To be honest, I don't mind the Cullens at all; I actually like them. I still don't know them, though, and it's a little lonely to be here. Especially when Jake isn't around. Or Seth and Leah. Plus I miss Embry, a lot. I really want to talk to him.

I have a feeling if I call we'll just end up fighting or he'll make me go home, so I'm not going to do that just yet.

Finally, I hear the front door open and the talking from the Cullens ceases. My head snaps to the front door expectantly. To my surprise, it's Seth, not Jake. To my even bigger surprise, I'm disappointed. Instantly, I begin to worry. Did Jared do something to Jake? Is he okay? Is he hurt? Is he _dead_?

"Where's Jake?"

Worry crosses Seth's face as the words are coming out of my mouth. "In the woods patrolling with Leah. He wanted me to make sure the Cullens knew everything. Why? Not excited to see me, cuz?" he teases with a silly grin on his face, erasing his previous worried expression. _Why did he look worried if __Jake isn't hurt? _

I roll my eyes, trying to hide my confusion of how he's acting. "Of course I am. I just figured Jake would deliver the news. Since he didn't, I assumed he was hurt."

My response seems to make Seth relax which, again, is strange. "Oh okay. Yeah he's fine. They just tried to tell us that we should go back to La Push and be one pack again. Stuff like that."

"Was Embry with them?" I ask tentatively.

He shakes his head and my heart drops. Why wasn't he with him? Is he okay? Maybe I should call him... "He's fine, don't worry," Seth adds quickly. "Sam probably just didn't want him to come in case Jake convinced him to join us."

I nod. That makes sense. "So Quil wasn't there either?"

Seth bites his lip, nervously tapping his foot. "No, Quil was there."

"But why the hell would Quil be there and not Embry?" I exclaim in frustration. That makes absolutely no sense at all. Quil would be just as likely to join Jake as Embry would. Possibly even more likely since his imprint is a baby so he can't be too keen on killing them.

"His imprint is also in La Push, while Embry's is here," Edward interjects quietly, keeping his eyes focused on Bella.

Seth nods.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I demand, lowering my voice since Bella is, after all, trying to sleep.

Seth sighs and answers, "He doesn't know that you're safe here... He would know that if he was here. Chances are something along those lines crossed his mind while he was patrolling and Sam isn't going to give him that option."

I glare at the ground. All of this is so fucking frustrating! I need to vent. Now. "Where's Jake?"

"In the woods..."

Quickly I walk towards the door, grabbing my sweater on the way. Seth follows me; instantly I push him back. "You have to tell them stuff, Seth. I'm pretty sure I can find him in the woods."

"I know you can find him. I just don't want you to be alone with him," he blurts.

I stare at him in disbelief. "Really Seth? I know what Jake's like and I know how to get the hell out of there when he gets mad. I'll be fine. Besides, Leah will be around. I doubt she'd let Jake kill me..."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

He exhales slowly, looks like he's about to say something and then clamps his mouth shut. "Nothing. It's not important." The serious look on his face breaks my heart. This guy in front of me is supposed to be my goofy, fifteen year old cousin, not this serious and grown up. It's scary.

"All right, Seth, whatever. I'll see you later."

As I'm heading out the door, I hear Edward mutter to Seth, "You should've told her. She doesn't have a clue."

If I've learned anything since I've been here, it's that normally I can't hear the vampires. Sometimes, I think I hear something but really it could just be my mind tricking me. So I ignore what I assume I heard and go outside. Besides, if it was actually significant, Seth would've told me.

It's colder outside than I expected; after all, summer isn't even half way done yet. Luckily, I find Jake quickly so I'm not wandering around in the woods for that long. When he comes into view, he's sitting on a log with his head rested in his hands. He looks pretty upset...

Walking over slowly, I sit myself down beside him and pat his back gently. "You okay?"

His head comes up and slowly, he shrugs his shoulders.

I roll my eyes, forcing a smile. "Cheer up. It couldn't have been that bad. Seth said they just tried to convince you all to go back."

A smirk takes over Jake's face. "So I'm guessing the kid didn't mention that you were a big part of that conversation?"

Scrunching my nose in confusion, I ask, "Why would you talk about me? Embry wasn't even there."

"Well, first, they wanted to know if you were here," he points out, crossing his arms over his chest. "Second, if you were, they wanted to know if you were safe. And maybe, because they figured if they said enough stuff it would piss me off enough to make you three all go home." Although Jake isn't shaking, I can tell whatever was said not only pissed him off but also made him pretty upset.

"Jake, you know you can tell me what happened," I say softly.

A hint of a smile appears on his face, but he quickly covers it up with a stupid smirk. "I know. But it's not really important. They just pointed out how I was putting one of the pack member's imprint in danger by allowing you to stay here."

I scoff; like Jake could make me go home if I didn't want to. "What did you say?"

"I told him I'm not in Embry's pack, so I can do whatever the hell I want with you." He grins at me innocently and for once, it finally feels like it used to before all the werewolf shit started.

I burst out laughing and shove him playfully. Before I know it, I'm doubled over from laughing so much. When I finally control my laughter, I shake my head smiling. "You know that's going to drive Embry absolutely insane."

"Oh, I know," he responds, wriggling his eyebrows goofily.

"You're retarded, you know that?" I tease.

He laughs which makes me laugh once again. "So what else happened besides you trying to get on Embry's black list?"

Shrugging, he admits, "Just what Seth told you. They did a few low blows trying to get Seth and Leah to go home. Even told me to tell you that Embry was really depressed without you there."

I flinch, trying the pain I feel stabbing my chest... repeatedly. "Jake," I whine, "why'd you have to tell me that part?"

He slips his arms around my shoulders and I gladly take the opportunity to lean into his chest. "You wanted to know what happened."

I frown. "Still..."

"What does our relationship consist of, Sophie?" he asks teasingly.

Despite still being there, the pain starts to subside and I can't help but smile. "Fine," I sigh. "But it still sucks."

He nods a little, still keeping his arm firmly around me. "I know. I'm sure Embry's fine, though."

"Probably." Then I add with a snort, "No thanks to you."

He grins down at me and shrugs. "That's not my job."

Shaking my head, I exhale slowly. We fall into a silence and despite feeling comfortable just sitting there on the log, I can tell something is still bothering Jake. He's not saying anything, though, so I decide to ignore it. When the silence seems like there's never going to be an end, I admit, "Sometimes, I wish we could all just go back to before Embry phased and have none of it ever happen."

Jake looks down at me, staring thoughtfully, as well as hopefully. "You know that means giving up the imprint?"

I shrug. "Yeah, but it's not like we didn't like each other before the imprint. I think I could deal with us not being soul mates if it meant that the four of us could go back to being friends without all these stupid complications."

A small smile creeps onto his lips and once again, he restrains from saying whatever is on his mind. I don't continue this time, though, and when he realizes that I'm not going to, he agrees, "That would be nice. No complications. No werewolves. No vampires. _No imprints_." He stresses the last one and I can't help but laugh a bit.

It goes back into another silence and this time it's interrupted by an owl hooting. The noise spooks me, making me jump further into Jake's embrace. He chuckles. "_Owls _scare you."

"Fuck off," I say, smiling at him.

"Sophie," he whispers, his voice all of a sudden serious.

"Yeah?"

"Do you..." he pauses, looking off into the distance. "Have you ever considered..." He stops again and then shakes his head. "Never mind."

I roll my eyes. "No Jake. Say what you have to say." I'm sick of people starting to say things and then stopping. And Jake of all people is the last person I'd expect to do that.

"Have you ever considered..." Jake bites his lips then continues and a defeated voice, "what you'd be giving up by saying you wished we never turned into wolves?"

I shrug, wondering why he was nervous to ask me that. "I think I have. But I don't think it would be much."

He smiles, maybe a little too widely. "What about the imprint?"

I laugh; I hadn't considered that part, I guess. But it really isn't that significant. "Well, I guess not. But honestly, Jake, I liked Embry before he imprinted and he liked me before too so I don't think it would've changed the final outcome."

He stiffens and little and detaches his arm from around my shoulders. "Well, what if it did?"

I smile softly. "I really don't think it would've."

Jake stands up from the log, making me wobble in the process. "Yeah, well you should probably go back to the house. It's getting dark," he grumbles, crossing his arms back over his chest.

I roll my eyes. "C'mon Jake, it's no darker than when I got there. What's up with you?"

He glares at a nearby tree. "Nothing," he snaps. "Leah's just been patrolling by herself and I don't want to listen to her bitching when I go to takeover."

I sigh and walk over to him. "Are you sure?" I ask, genuinely concerned. I mean, he's one of my best friends. I don't want to see him upset. Especially since he has a record for doing stupid things when he gets upset. "If there's something wrong – "

"Nothing's wrong, Soph," he says irritably. "Just go, okay?"

I sigh. "Okay. Night Jake."

As I walk back to the Cullens house feeling like crap, I wonder if it was something I said. Or maybe he's just upset about Bella. After all, he said the pack gave them a few low blows; maybe one of them was directed at him.

**Okay, so I just wanted to clarify that what Jake asked wasn't what he wanted to ask :P It's just, I wanted Sophie to think that's what he meant but I didn't know how to make it obv that it wasn't what he wanted to ask and still have her think it was :P If that makes sense, lol. Anyway, I hope you liked it :) Sorry that it was slower than my last couple updates, I had a hard time starting this one.**


	17. What The Hell?

Chapter 17

The next morning, I'm awoken by my ringing phone. Snatching it off the bedside table, I recognize the number. It's embry. Sighing, I ponder over what I should do. After what Jake said yesterday I'm sure I should assure him that it was just Jake being his typical douche bag self.

"Hello?"

"_Sophie!" _Embry's voice exclaims, clearly excited that I picked up. _"I, uh, didn't think you'd pick up..."_

"I wonder why you'd think that," I respond, trying to ignore the giddy feeling swimming around inside of me. It's amazing to hear his voice again.

"_Yeah," _he says, an awkward laugh echoing through my cell phone. _"Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and um, well, _beg _you to come home."_

I suppress a groan. "Embry, I can't."

"_Why?" _he demands angrily. _"Because _Jake's _there?"_

I gape, trying my best to not hang up right then and there. "Oh my God, Embry. I can't believe you just said that. What the hell? Is it because of what he told them? Seriously, Emm – Embry, he was just joking. Being Jake."

"_I don't think so, Sophie."_

I roll my eyes, but have no clue what to say. "Why don't you trust me?"

"_Why should I trust you? You just left Sophie! You left! To take my freaking enemy's side! Why in the world should I trust you?"  
><em>

Tears prick my eyes. Why is he being so mean? "You don't mean that," I say in a small voice.

He sighs in a way normal-Embry would which is relieving. At least he feels bad about yelling at me... _"Just come home Sophie. Please. I can't, I just can't handle you not being here."_

"I can't, Embry. Okay? I just can't."

"_No!" he cries. "It's not okay! Why would it be okay? It's _killing _me not having you here. Not being able to see you. Not knowing what you're doing! Doesn't this bother you at all?"_

"Of course it does," I say, my voice softer this time. The pack was right, he is pretty torn up.

"_Then why don't you just come home?"_

"Because Embry. I just can't."

"_Why? Can't you give me an actual answer?"_

"Because I just don't want to see you, okay?" I blurt out. There's many logical reasons behind why I don't want to see him. I don't want to just run back into his arms when I see him – and that would be a possibility if I go back. I don't want to have to see him following Sam around like little puppy dog. But mostly, I don't want to see him and be completely disgusted by him because that would kill me. But most of all, it's because if I see him doing whatever they're planning to kill this baby, I'll be disgusted by him. I won't even want to look at him and that's something I don't want to happen.

"_Wh-what do you mean by that?" _he asks nervously.

I sigh deeply. "Embry. You have no idea how much I _despise _what you're doing. You have no idea how much I _hate _seeing you obey Sam. And I know you have no choice; I know you can't do anything else. I still hate it though. I don't want to see you doing that stuff because honestly, it makes me disgusted just to see you. And I don't want that."

"_So you find it disgusting for me to do something that protects people I care about?" _he asks in disbelief. I nod although it's a pretty useless thing to do. _"You think you've never done things I found disgusting, Sophie? Don't you think that maybe I found you making out with every guy you could disgusting? Or maybe that I found you starving yourself disgusting?"_

I cringe slightly but have nothing to say. He's right and all his yelling does is bring back the conversation I had with Jake my first night here. Embry always puts up with us, always takes our side. I guess I just assumed he sided with us because he saw our side, not because he was being nice.

He continues, his voice raising even more, _"Well, I did Sophie. But I never said a damn thing and I put up with it because I love you. And did you do when something hard happens? You left. God, you're just like your fucking mom."_

My lip trembles and tears are instantaneously running down my face. _Breath, _I remind myself. But I can't and I just end up hyperventilating. Oh my god, did he really just say that? Did he really mean it? Worst of all, is he right.

"_Oh my god, Sophie," _he whispers, sounding horrified. _"I didn't mean it. I swear! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Please, Sophie, I was just mad. Really mad. I had no right to say that. I'm so sorry."_

In a voice so quiet that I'm surprised he hears me, I whisper hoarsely, "Good bye."

I slam my finger into the end call button and stare numbly at my background picture. It's still a picture of Embry and I and it hurts just to see it. It makes his words replay over and over again.

_God, you're just like your fucking mom._

Shakily I get off the bed and walk over to the mirror. I look terrified but it doesn't look like I want to cry. Yet. Maybe if I force a smile on my face I can say something nice to Bella, and then leave and not come back for awhile.

It's not like I'm much use here anyway. And I'm pretty sure me not being here is more helpful than me here and sobbing. I make my way downstairs to find Bella alone in the living room, staring at the television blankly. She looks even worse.

When she sees me, she smiles weakly. "Good morning."

I try to keep a smile on my face as well as have my voice steady. "Morning. How are ya feeling?"

She shrugs. "I'm guessing they never told you anything?"

Damn. I was supposed to wake her up... "Not really," I say sheepishly. "Um, I kinda left when Seth showed up. Did they fill you in?"

She shrugs and I wonder how much energy – and pain – that cost her. "A little." She looks up to me hopefully, almost shyly. "W-would you stay her today? And keep me company?"

Well fuck, there goes my plan. It's not like I can just say no. Plus, I'm sure if I really need to cry I can tell her I'm going to the bathroom. "Sure."

"You don't m-ind?" she croaks.

I shake my head, still doing my best to look positive. "It's the least I can do."

So that's what I do. I stay and keep Bella company all day long. We chat; I try to keep her happy. But, as I'm sure you can imagine, it's a hard task to keep a dying, pregnant girl happy. She tries though; I'll give her that. I try too, really hard. I only end up having to 'go to the bathroom' once. And when I come back, Bella has absolutely no clue. The Cullens do though and by the end of the day, even Rosalie is shooting me sympathetic glances.

Apparently they all heard Embry and my conversation.

In the evening, Jake shows up so I no longer have to work so hard to keep Bella upbeat and occupied. He does a good job at that. He also does a good job at ignoring me. Then again, I might just being a little too touchy. He's only with Bella for so long and he probably just wants to focus on her. That's normal.

I don't pay attention to anything that they're saying. Not that I really have a chance to. Embry's words began rerunning in my head the second I no longer had to focus on Bella. I guess she'd been a good distraction because they're back now and louder than before.

_God, you're just like your fucking mom._

What brings me back to reality is when Edward's face lights up and he says, "Jacob just had an idea."

Jake stares at him in horror and disgust. "It wasn't an idea. It was a snide thought."

"Either way," Edward just shrugs, almost smiling. He goes on to explain how since the baby is part vampire and how it probably wants blood and that's why it's rejecting everything else. It makes sense and is logical. However... if I was the one that had to drink the blood I might think differently.

Bella seems fine with it, though.

The next half hour passes by rather productively. Edward assures her that if she's not okay with drinking it they can find another way. Bella attempts to make an animal blood joke – which I laugh at for her benefit, god I am such a nice person. Rosalie keeps repeating how she thinks this will help the baby; this idea Bella loves. To me, it's starting to look like all she cares about is protecting the baby. Not whether or not Bella lives. I can't really just her though; when I first got here, that's all I cared about too.

Finally, Bella ends up drinking the blood. It makes me feel queasy but if it helps, what the hell right? For the first time since Edward suggested it, I glance over at Jake. Oh yeah, he's definitely not pleased about it. His arms are crossed over his chest and he's looking at the cup in pure disgust.

Biting my lip, I walk over to him. I lean up on my tiptoes and luckily he bends down so my mouth is actually at his ear. Stupid tall people. Then, I whisper harshly, "Can you smile? Or stop being so negative? It could save her life."

He sighs, but nods and manages to get a neutral expression on his face. I smile and pat his cheek. "There ya go Jakey."

He rolls his eyes and follows me as I go over to the couch.

Bella admits it tastes good, sheepishly. Everyone assures her that she shouldn't be embarrassed and that it's probably just a sign that it's working. And I think it is. Immediately, she starts to look better. A _lot _better. The transformation in her is pretty incredible.

Jake stays for a while after Bella drinks the blood but once she falls back asleep, he says he's going to go. I ask if I can come. He's hesitant but does agree. Thank god.

We end up walking down a path on the opposite side of the house rather than the side of the forest we usually do. "Are you okay?" he asks suddenly.

I try to keep a cool exterior. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"I'm serious Sophie. From the second I showed up you looked like you were going to break down sobbing. Was it something I said last night? I really didn't mean to say something bad if I did."

I shake my head quickly and fixate my gaze on the ground. "It wasn't you," I croak. Oh god, I'm going to cry. Great.

"Hey," Jake says softly. He stops and pulls me into his chest, rubbing my back up and down gently. "What happened? You can tell me."

Maybe it's just because I haven't been held like this in a long time, but it feels nice to be in his arms. To have him staring at me like that. Like he'd do anything to make me stop being sad... Quickly I shake the thoughts out of my head. What the _hell _were they about? "Well... Embry called this morning..." I retell the conversation and at the end, I barely get out my last sentence before I break down sobbing.

Jake shushes me, rocking me back and forth as we stand there.

"Am I, Jake?" I whisper brokenly. "Am I like her?" It's a stupid question. Jake's never met my mom – at least not in his memory – but he does know about her. Unlike Embry, he doesn't lie to protect my feelings, so maybe I'll get a real answer.

"No, Sophie. You're not," he tell me truthfully. "Don't listen to him." He pulls back and cups my face in his hands. "Please don't cry. He's not worth it."

That just makes me cry harder and I try to look away from him but every time I do he just brings my gaze back to his. "Don't you get it, Soph?" he tells me. "It's always going to be like this. He's always going to have to take Sam's side. He's never going to be able to always be with you. He's always going to listen to Sam. You're always going to get hurt because of it!" His voice is raised now. But he's not yelling angrily; he's not scaring me. He's pleading; no, he's begging.

"Don't you see? It's been happening since he changed! When he couldn't talk to you, Sophie, I saw how bad you were. It's just like that all over again. And it's going to happen again, probably."

My lip trembles. "Well, what do you want me to do about that Jake?" I demand quietly. "I can't make him leave Sam."

"No," he says, "you can't. You also can't do anything about it. That's just how it's always going to be."

I bite my lip but he still won't let me look away. What can I say to that? I mean, really, I know he's right. But I have to accept that don't I? It's just how it has to be for me to be with Embry. "What's your point, Jake?"

"Have I ever hurt you the way Embry hurts you?" he murmurs.

I tilt my head in confusion. "What does that have to do with anything?"

He closes his eyes for a second, frustration clear on his face. "Just answer the question. Please, Soph."

I scan my brain. There has to be a time when he did. He's Jake; we fight so much that there has to be a time when he hurt me this much. When he left? No, that had nothing to do with me. When we fought? No. When he … No. No matter what comes to mind, there's nothing that he's ever done to me that's hurt this much. Ever. "No," I admit slowly. "But what's your point?"

He sighs, looking me deep in the eyes. "Have you ever considered..." Now I realize that what he asked last night wasn't what he wanted to, but whatever he's about to ask is, "that Embry isn't the one for you? That I am?"

I don't get a chance to think over his questions. I barely get a chance to process his words because within seconds I'm pinned up against a tree with Jake's lips smashing against mine feverishly.

**Now don't jump to conclusions yet guys ;)**


	18. Are You Insane?

**So before you read this, I would just like to point out that you do not have to read this story. If you read it and don't like it, you can tell me all you want, I don't mind. But if you hate it as much as you seem to in the reviews, you're wasting both my time and yours by reading it. I'm sorry that you don't like it, but I hate stories that are happy happy all the way through, and people act differently when bad stuff is going on. The way they act in this story is the way I want them to, so I'm sorry if this is bitchy, but if you don't like it, there's really nothing I can do about it. Sorry.**

**And obv, this isn't to everyone, it's just some don't log in so I cant tell them any other way so sorry to everybody else for the rant :P**

**And, i know I haven't updated my other story in a bit and i'll try for this weekend but I've had a lot of schoolwork and I rode most days this week so i didn't get home til 9 :P**

**Chapter 18**

"What the _fuck _Jacob!" I scream, shoving his chest as hard as I can. It doesn't do much damage but it's enough to make him stop.

Sighing, he moves away from me but still has his hands secured to the tree, pinning me in. "Well have you?"

"No!" I yell, spitting on the ground as I try to get the taste of his tongue out of my mouth. Oh god. Why the hell would he do that. "Are you insane? You're my best friend Jake! Let me make this clear: I in _no fucking way _think about you like that."

"Sophie, please. Just listen to me!" he begs. "I won't hurt you. I could make you so happy. I love you."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" I snap, running my hands through my hair in frustration. "I don't want to hear it!"

"Please. Just once. Listen to me."

I roll my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. "No, Jake. You listen to me. I _do _love you. As a brother. As a friend. As someone I can trust and come to for advice when I need it. It's nothing like how I love Embry. Nothing."

Just like before he kissed me, he doesn't let me break eye contact with him. Only now, it's not comforting; it's infuriating and painful. Why does he have to be so sad? "How do you know, Sophie? You have _never _even considered it. When we were younger before all the wolf shit, all you cared about was getting Embry to want you. You never even tried to like anyone else. If you would open your mind to someone else for once in your life, maybe you'd find someone better suited for you than him. You said so yourself, he's too good for you."

I close my eyes. "Jake. Please just stop. If you don't stop right now, we're never even going to be able to be friends. And I don't want that."

"If we don't talk it out, if you don't consider all your options, we won't be able to be friends," he corrects. Seriously? _Now _he decides to be grown up and talk about his feelings.

"Fine. But if you do one more stupid thing, I'm out of here. Deal?"

He nods, moving his arms to release me from this trap. "Deal."

I guess it's time to be truthful. "Okay, I've never even imagined myself with a guy besides Embry – and Liam Hemsworth but... I guess he doesn't count. - so you're right on that account. But, you've never imprinted Jacob. You may think you know what it's like, but – obviously if you're here telling me this shit – you don't. I love Embry more than anything in this world. Yes, at the moment, I don't even want to see him. But I'll get over it. Because no matter what, I cannot imagine not having him in my life."

Jake frowns. "I may not know exactly what it feels like to imprint, but I have a damn good idea. I also know that Embry will be in your life, lover or not. If you said you wanted to be with me, he'd be upset, he'd be pissed, but eventually if that's what you really wanted he'd be okay with it. Because it's not about what he wants for him; it's about what you want."

I shake my head at him. Even the idea of being with Jake makes me sick. Hell, his kiss made me want to vomit. "I know we don't have to be together because he imprinted on me, Jake. But I want to be with him. I _need _to be with him."

"No you don't!" he exclaims. "You just think that."

"Jake you've admitted a million times: you don't know me! You don't know how I feel, especially about this."

I can tell he's pissed, but at least he's starting to see how it is. "Look Jake. Let's just forget any of this ever happened, okay?"

He shakes his head. "No, Sophie. I can't. Yes, I was in the wrong to kiss you. But if the last few days you cannot stand there and honestly tell me that you didn't give me signals that you feel the exact same way. You cannot stand there and tell me that you didn't like it when I held you."

I sigh. Maybe I had been giving him signals. But I honestly never meant to, and until he kissed me I never thought he liked me like that. At least not logically. "Okay, fine," I admit. "I liked it when you held me. I liked it when you hugged me. It felt nice to know that someone cared about me. But when you were holding me like that I thought you meant it in a friendly way. Not any other way."

He raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes!" I exclaim.

"How do you know?"

I roll my eyes, once again frustrated. "Because Jake, when you kissed me, I felt so disgusted. It was the worse kiss I've ever had. And it's not because you're a bad kisser – I'm sure you're not. It's because I never ever wanted to kiss anybody after I kissed Embry. I still don't and the fact that I did... it's like cheating on him." The words come out in a tremor and instantly I feel horrible. Will Embry think I wanted this to happen because of our fight this morning? Would he think I liked it?

"You didn't kiss me back," Jake grumbles in an attempt to make me feel better. Well, at least some of the normal Jake is back.

"Jake. I'm so sorry, but I really don't love you like that. I don't."

He averts his eyes to the ground. "I should've known this would happen. I was just fooling myself thinking you loved me back."

Agreeing probably wouldn't make him feel any better so I just shrug. "We can just forget this ever happened, Jake. This whole week. Look, we're both under a lot of stress. The girl you _actually _love is either dying or about to have a baby with her husband and things are rough between Embry and I right now. So maybe neither one of us really saw things clearly. Okay?"

"I _do _love you Sophie."

I groan. "Dammit Jacob! Can't you just forget about it so we can move on?"

"Sophie, don't you think I've tried?" he demands seriously. "Do you know how hard I've tried? I've been trying since I realized I loved you. Always arguing with you. Pointing out every damn flaw you have over and over again. And I still can't stop."

"Well, I really wish you could." I start pacing up and down the path, running my hands through my hair. "Does Embry know?"

He nods which actually surprises me.

"And he didn't kill you?"

"Well," he admits sheepishly. "We had a deal that if you ever made a move on me, he couldn't really be mad because it's what you wanted."

"Well good job breaking that deal, you idiot," I snap.

He smirks, rolling his eyes. "I'm well aware of that Sophie. But at the time I was sure that you liked me back."

"And you picked a time when I was hysterical about my boyfriend saying something mean to me to make a move? Jake, even if I would've kissed you, it would've been completely to get back at Embry. It would've meant nothing."

"I know."

"Then why?"

"I... I don't even know." He rubs his face, groaning.

"You will imprint sometime, you know. It'll happen. Stop making yourself miserable over Bella and I." This finally gets his attention and he seems to actually be listening to me. "I really do believe that you love me, Jake, but that'll change when you imprint. You'll love her. I understand that it would be lonely being alone and watching all your friends in love. It must suck. But, if you keep trying to fall in love with girls who aren't your soul mate, you're just setting yourself up for disaster. Because no matter what it's from, if you don't imprint on them, in the end you're not going to be with them. So why try and get yourself hurt?"

"What if I don't imprint, though? It's supposed to be rare."

I roll my eyes. "Yes it was... until, what? Half of you imprinted less than two years in. Seriously Jake, you'll imprint. Don't worry about it."

He stares at me in disbelief. "Aren't you supposed to be throwing things at me and screaming? Not trying to make me feel better."

I shrug. "I said you were my best friend and I meant it. Unlike _some people _my goal in life is not to make my friends feel like shit."

He smiles softly. "I'm sorry Sophie."

I shrug. "Besides, I'm sure Embry's going to kick your ass when I tell him so I might as well be nice to you."

He groans. "You're going to tell him?"

"Dude. You _kissed _me. I can't just not tell him! He already accused me of doing it this morning and if he finds out from anyone else he's going to think we were having sex!"

"Well, if he's going to assume, we might as well..." he tells me grinning suggestively.

I pick up a rock off the ground and chuck it at his head. He dodges it, though, so it's not like it was that mean of a thing to do... "I _never _want to hear one suggestive, romantic, or sexual thing about me or you come out of your mouth for the rest of my life. Do you understand?"

He nods meekly. "Sorry."

"Yeah. Whatever."

Then, out of nowhere, he jumps and instantly looks terrified.

"Jake!" I exclaim. "What's wrong?"

"W-we have to get back to the house. _Now_!" He's already rushing down the path towards the house. I have to jog to keep up with him. "Something happened to Bella."

**It's pretty short, but I wanted to end it there... so, sorry :P **

**And, I was a little surprised that you guys thought I'd made her end up with Jake lol, I mean c'mon the whole first story would be a complete waste of time :) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it :P **


	19. I Was A Little Shocked Too

**So, I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in like three months, but I'm kinda the type of person that can't write about something if I'm not interested at the time and I figured I'd better wait until I get some inspiration instead of updating a really crappy chapter. (Although this isn't the best I guess) So I'm sorry and I hope you enjoy this chap :)**

Chapter 19

When we barge through the Cullens' front door, everything is a frantic mess. Bella looks limp as she is held up awkwardly by Edward and Rosalie. Both of them look terrified. Quickly, Jake rushes to help them carry her to another room.

I glance at Alice, not sure where they're going and certain that I don't want to follow. "What's going on? What happened? Is she okay?"

Alice seems pretty helpless at the moment and just shakes her head. "I don't know! I just don't know." She follows down the same exit that Jake, Edward, Bella and Rosalie had moments ago.

Luckily Jasper still has his head on straight and explains the situation to me. "It broke her spleen. She's bleeding internally and can't move her bottom half."

My heart hammers in my chest as I begin to panic. Oh my God! Does Edward know what to do? Where the hell is everybody else? "Where's Carlisle?"

"Hunting. With Esme. Alice has him on the phone right now."

Slowly, I make my way over to the couch. After sitting down, I rest my head in my hands and concentrate on hearing what's going on in the other room.

There's Bella's laboured breathing, her screams. Rosalie's demands. And Jacob's threats. After what seems like forever but could've been any amount of time, everything goes silent. I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I glance over at Jasper but his eyes are focused towards the room and he doesn't notice me.

I realize that Alice is also in the room now, standing behind Jasper.

As quickly as the silence came, it's gone with, "Rose take the baby!"

Within seconds, Rosalie enters the room with a tiny baby swaddled in her arms. She's smiling and cooing at it as if the chaos still isn't going on in the room she just left. Jake is threatening Edward while frantic scrambling takes place in the room. I'm guessing they're trying to save her. Or at least Edward is.

Eventually Jacob comes out. The pissed off look on his face tells me that Bella's dead – is Edward just in denial out there? Unfortunately, he's marching straight towards the chair where Rosalie is holding the baby. Or Renesmee as Bella had decided to name her.

"Jacob," I warn, terrified.

He completely ignores me and continues on glaring at the baby. For some reason no body moves, Rosalie doesn't even seem to notice. She's so absorbed with the baby. I stand up, about to stop him – although we all know I'm not strong enough – when his expression completely changes. It goes from a brooding, angry, volatile look to a completely infatuated, loving one.

I gasp, knowing that look. Jake just imprinted. On Renesmee. My gasp seems to snap everyone out of their trance and make them look at Jacob as he stares at the baby adoringly.

"You fucking mutt," Rosalie growls.

He doesn't even react, he just stares at Renesmee. She looks up at him and a tiny smile appears on her small face. That brightens his facial expression even more.

The next few hours go by strangely. Alice, Jasper and I sit in the room, not moving or making a sound. Meanwhile, Rosalie and Jacob fight over who will take care of the baby. If it wasn't under these circumstances, it may have been cute. Eventually, Carlisle and Esme come back. Immediately he joins Edward in the 'delivery room' while Esme sits quietly beside me for a while until she starts helping with the baby. Much to Jacob's dismay.

Finally, Edward and Carlisle come out. They no longer look grim or upset which I take as a good sign. "She's changing now. Her heart should be able to get her through it."

Despite only knowing her for a little while and only liking her for a few days, I feel immense relief. Not surprisingly, Edward isn't too happy about Jake's imprinting on his daughter but he handles it a lot better than Rosalie had – and it wasn't even her daughter.

I stay around for a bit; I even get to hold her. But, after everything that's gone on in the last couple weeks, even with this happy ending on the Cullens side, I know I have some unfinished business on the La Push side. Especially with Embry.

I tell them that I've got to go and tell Jake to tell me if everything goes over all right before heading outside. I notice Seth and Leah at the forest line and send them a thumbs up hoping they'll get that everything's going to be okay.

Getting into my car, I let out a long sigh. I'm not sure what I'm going say to him, and I'm definitely not sure what he's going to say to me. All I can hope is that it won't be as bad as I'm expecting it to be.

I knock on the door faintly, remembering back when I felt comfortable just walking into this house. How had so much changed in just a couple weeks? I'm about to knock again when his mom comes to the door.

Her eyebrows shoot up. "Sophie! W-what are you doing here? Is everything okay?" I know she knows about everything that's been going on and after what I've put Embry through, I'm honestly a little surprised she hasn't kicked me out yet.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Um, is Embry home?"

A smile spreads across her face, relieved. "He's upstairs asleep. But I'm sure he'd be happy to see you, anyway."

I smile bleakly at her. "I sure hope so."

She moves aside and let's me through the door; from there, I let myself upstairs and walk down the hallway to Embry's room. The door is shut, but I don't bother to knock. He can't not talk to me if I'm already in the room.

Tiptoeing across his creaky floor, I take a moment to admire the serenity of his sleeping body. He looks pretty peaceful at first glance; however, I'm not looking long before I see the frown lines and concerned demeanor that has taken over his face.

Slowly, I kneel down in front of his bed. "Embry," I whisper, shaking him gently.

His eyelids flutter but don't open. "Hmm," he mumbles.

Finally, his eyes snap open. He eyes me warily, clearly trying to decipher if I'm actually real or not. When he doesn't say anything, I perch my elbows on his bed and rest my chin in my hands. "I'm sorry," I breathe.

"Sophie," he nearly whimpers, sitting up abruptly and pulling me onto his lap. "You're here." He wraps his arms around my waist, holding onto me tightly. "I'm so sorry for what I said to you. I'm so, so sorry. I had no right, but I was just stressed, and angry, and jealous, and I just hate being away from you. It was killing me."

I bring my hand up, caressing his cheek. "Don't apologize." True, I'm glad he didn't mean it; it's a huge relief. But I know why I'm here now: I have to apologize. Because what Jake told me earlier this week about Embry being too good for me, it was true. Especially after this week. You know what, though? I'm gonna do whatever the hell I have to do to change that. "You were right, kinda."

Instantly his body goes rigid. "What do you mean?" he asks timidly.

"About Jake."

"He likes you."

"He kissed me," I announce, waiting for all hell to break loose.

To my surprise, he doesn't get mad; he just looks grieved. "D-did you kiss him back?"

"No."

"D-do you like him?" Embry still looks so upset that I just want to comfort him. Luckily, I know that my answer will give him some assurance.

"Not in that way Embry," I tell him honestly. "I swear, even thinking about it makes me sick."

A small smile appears on him lips as he closes his eyes. "That's good."

"How could you even begin to think that I would love anyone besides you? We're soul mates. I love you and only you and," I sigh, "I just don't understand why you didn't believe me."

He sighs, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "I don't know, Sophie... Everything has just been so messed up and you were mad at me and... I never would've expected you to go to the Cullens house, so I guess, I wasn't sure if I could trust my judgment on you anymore."

I clasp his hands between mine and look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that."

"Why?"

"Just... I just, I don't know okay? I don't want you to feel bad."

I smile softly, pecking his lips gently. "After everything I've put you through, I think I deserve to feel a little bad."

Shaking his head, Embry whispers, "No, you should never feel bad."

Sighing, I rest my head against his chest. "He's right. I don't deserve you."

Embry kisses my hair, fighting back a smile. "Don't say stuff like that. We belong together." He tightens his grip on me, so he's holding me tightly to his chest. "I need you to know, that no matter what happens, I will always love you more than anything else."

I glance up at him in worry. Why is he talking like this? Then it hits me: he thinks there's still the whole baby problem. "Embry," I whisper, cupping his face in between my hands.

His gaze flickers at the ground. "Look at me." He continues looking at the ground, so I shake him. "Embry!"

My voice must have scared him because his eyes snaps up and search mine in concern. "What's wrong?"

I beam at him. "Absolutely nothing."

"But Soph, you don't understand. We still can't trust that thing and I know you're going to hate to hear me say this, but Sam thinks – "

I press my lips to his, kissing him roughly to shut him up. Originally, I meant to just kiss him long enough for him to be quiet, but it's been so long since I've kissed him and I just can't bring myself to stop. I slide my hands up his jaw line, until they're twisting themselves into his hair.

His hands slide up my thighs to the small of my back, pulling me closer as he deepens the kiss. A moan escapes my mouth as he leaves a trail of hot kisses down my neck and to my collarbone.

I guess he doesn't want to stop either because he flips me over, lays me on his bed and climbs over top of me. "Embry," I giggle, swatting his hand away as he tugs at my shirt. "We haven't seen each other in weeks and all you want to do is have sex?"

He smiles bashfully before collapsing beside me. "You started it."

I roll my eyes and curl up against his chest. "Yeah, to interrupt you. I-I have something to tell you."

His body once again goes tense. "What is it?" he whispers into my hair.

"Bella had the baby."

His eyebrows shoot up as his mouth forms a tiny 'o' shape. Before he can jump to conclusions or freak out, I hurry with the rest of the story. "And she's changing into a vampire at this moment. Oh, and Embry, the baby is so cute," I coo, smiling.

Embry frowns. "But what if she's..."

"She's not dangerous! Well, she's not venomous at least. Plus, she's actually, um, well... Jake, uh, he imprinted on her."

His jaw drops opened as he stares at me in disbelief. "Sophie, you've got to be kidding me. Right?"

When I shake my head, he exhales slowly. "Wow."

I smirk up at him. "Yeah, I know. I was a little shocked too."

Pulling me closer, he grabs him blanket and pulls it over us. "This uncomplicated things, though, didn't it?"

I smile against his chest, closing my eyes. "It did."

"Why don't we let everybody else catch up on things on their own while we take a nap." I feel him wipe under my eyes gently. "You look tired."

"Mmm," I mumble. "Think we'll wake up and everything will be sorted out?"

He laughs. "I highly doubt that.


	20. A Lot To Handle

Chapter 20

When I eventually wake up, I find myself weighed down by a pile of blankets. And alone in the bed. Yawning, I sit up stretch and look around the empty bedroom. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm in Embry's bedroom, I would think I dreamed it all up.

But I am. And he's not...

Instantly, I begin to worry. Did he go and tell Sam everything I told him? Will he go attack Jake because he broke his promise to him? "Embry?" I call tentatively.

Awaiting an answer, I glance around the room. His alarm clock says 3:42 AM. Well, he's definitely not working at the store... "Embry!"

I hear loud footsteps tripping up the stairs. A large figure barges through the door and in the dim light it takes me awhile to realize that it's Embry. "Are you okay?"

I sigh in relief and lay back down in his bed. "Where did you go?"

It's his turn to let out a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that, Sophie!"

I smile slightly. "Sorry. Please come back to bed."

Nodding, he throws off most of the blankets and joins me. "Go to sleep," he murmurs in my ear. "Everything will be fine when we wake up."

Once again, Embry happened to be wrong. After our nap, all the complications of our lives haven't been solved. I figure Jacob is either too busy gawking over his cute little imprint or waiting until Bella is changed to go and talk to Sam.

Either way when Embry calls Sam to ask him if he's heard from Jake, he says no. When Embry tells him that we'll be over in a few minutes to explain the situation, even I can hear the uproar it causes. I can't hear the words, just the murmur that must be going on at Emily's house.

Okay, maybe me going over to Sam's right now isn't a good idea... Just because Embry forgives me so easily doesn't mean the others will. And even if most of them do, Sam probably won't. We never got along to begin with.

As soon as he hangs up his phone, I look up at him with a pout from my place on his bed. "Embry?"

"Oh god, a few hours back and you're already using the puppy dog face?" he jokes, walking over the intertwining our fingers together. "What is it Soph?"

"Do I have to go to Sam's?" I mumble, averting my gaze to the ground childishly.

Through my eyelashes I can see a hint of a smile forming on his lips. "Sweetie, you're family. They're not going to not want to see you," he assures me.

I raise an eyebrow. "Sam hates me."

He bites his lip, pondering his response. "You hate him, too," he says, not bothering to deny it. "But Emily's been really upset since you left so she'll be ecstatic to see you which will therefore make him a little less pissed."

I let out a short laugh. "Still, it's going to be really awkward..."

"Please come," he whispers, combing his fingers through my bed-messed hair. "I'm scared if I let you out of my sight I won't see you again."

Smiling thoughtfully, I pull his face down to mine and kiss him gently. "I'll never leave you again, I promise."

We share a private smile before I lay back on his bed and yawn. "Can't we just lay here and sleep?"

Embry rolls his eyes. "I'm not really tired anymore."

"Well we could stay here and have sex." And before he could come up with an excuse, I point out, "And after all this time you can't say you aren't horny."

He sighs, clearly disappointed on the sex he's missing out on. "Sophie, you know I can't. Just please come with me and then we can come back here and have all the sex or sleep or anything that you want."

Pursing my lips, I sigh in defeat. "Fine, but uh, that might have to wait."

Plopping down beside me, he raises an eyebrow. "I'm going to have to talk to my dad eventually... he doesn't know that I'm back. Plus I'm pretty sure if your mom sees us come back here she's going to tell my dad. And when he finds out..."

"You are fucked," he informs me. As if I wasn't already convinced of that. "Your dad has been almost as worried as I have and I doubt you have the same affect on him that you do me." He smirks. "So you're not getting off the hook."

Sighing, I rest my head on his shoulders. "Well, let's get these stupid greetings over with then..."

Both of us stay silent on the walk over to Emily's. My mind is reeling, though. I know Quil won't be mad at me, or at least if he is, he'll get over it. Collin and Brady don't really matter if they're mad at me because they'll remain quiet and plus we were never that close. Jared and Paul are more likely to take Sam's side than mine but I know they do like me a little bit. Hopefully they won't be too mad. As for Sam, I'll be lucky if he doesn't go full on wolf the second I speak.

As for Emily, Kim and Rachel, Emily will be upset but we're actual family so it won't be too bad, Kim is too nice to say anything and we are best friends and Rachel is too new to this, she's probably confused out of her mind.

While we're walking up the driveway, Embry slips his hand into mine and gives me a reassuring squeeze. "It'll be okay."

I shrug, not so certain. The most pathetic thing is that as we walk into the house, I feel like I should be knocking. It has been _so _long since I've felt that way.

"Hey guys," Embry greets casually as he walks into the kitchen. I stay a few steps behind him, like a five year old hiding behind their mother.

Everyone's heads turn in our direction and the reactions begin.

Emily, Rachel and Kim are the first ones to react. They all literally drop what they're doing and run over to me, engulfing me in the hug. "If you ever leave again I'm going to lock you in a closet for the rest of your life," Emily threatens, squeezing all the air out of me.

Kim's is a simpler, "I missed you."

And Rachel gives me a scolding similar to Emily's.

I hug them all tightly and nod. "I won't, I promise."

As the girls wave off, I await the next reactions. Quil gets up from his chair and walks over to me in a slower but similar fashion that the girls did. "You scared the hell out of me. And if you ever do it again, Embry's going to need to find himself another imprint."

I grin a little as Embry glares at Quil. "Gee, I missed you too, Quilly."

Chuckling, he pulls me tighter into the hug before releasing me. As expected, Brady and Collin don't really have a reaction. Meanwhile Jared pulls Kim onto his lap and smiles at me. "Not gonna lie, Soph, I definitely missed having you around."

Smiling and a little shocked at his comment, I respond quietly, "Thanks."

Paul on the other hand, surprises me the most. He gets up, comes over and hugs me. Then with one of his stupid little smirks on as he pulls away, he jokes, "Yeah, it was pretty weird not having the little shit-disturber around. And boring."

I smirk back, and shove his shoulder in a friendly gesture. "Right back at ya Paul."

Now, for the grand finale...

Sam crosses his arms over his chest and with absolutely no subtlety at all glares at me. "Sophia," he greets coldly."

I glare challengingly at him, crossing my arms as well. "Sam."

The room goes quiet and even Embry starts fidgeting beside me. "Decide vampires aren't that great for company?" The hostility in voice makes Embry start to shake slightly.

So I do what I do best, as Paul would say, I disturb shit. "Well, they're definitely not as great for company as all these guys," I gesture around the room, "but damn, are they ever so much more pleasant to be around than you." I smile icily.

His face twitches in anger as his fists continue to clench and unclench at his sides. Eventually he starts to visibly shake. Immediately Emily rushes to his side. "Sam, can't we just be glad she's back?" she whispers.

I roll my eyes, like Sam would ever be glad that I'm here.

"That's not exactly something to be glad about," he snarls.

Emily backs off, learning long ago to not be near an angry wolf. I on the other hand am about to march up to him when Embry interrupts, "Sam, that's enough!" he snaps. "Do you want to know what happened or not?"

Sighing, Sam closes his eyes and calms himself down. Instantly he's in full alpha mode. "All right, please explain."

Embry retells everything that I told him earlier as I go over the table and sit at the empty seat. Everyone is hanging on Embry's every word. As he gets to the part that Bella had the baby, Sam starts to jump to conclusions. "Well, it's definitely a threat; we're going to have to do something about it."

"You can't," I snap smugly.

Quil who's beside me looks at me like I'm insane. Instantly Sam is glaring daggers at me. "This is none of your fu – "

"Sam, let me explain what she means," Embry interrupts. "First off, she's most likely not a threat. She's not venomous and apparently seems a little more human than vampire."

"You _thinking _that she's not a threat isn't enough. We can't put the entire – "

"_The entire reservation at risk_," I mock before snapping, "Can you just shut up and let him finish?"

Sam's expression goes stony and he orders in his alpha voice, "Do not talk to me like that."

I just smirk at him. His commands don't affect me at all. It doesn't even intimidate me anymore. So I look over to Embry waiting for him to drop the bond.

"Like I was saying, it doesn't really matter if she's a threat. We can't hurt her." He bites his lip and then after taking a deep breath he reveals, "Jake imprinted on her."

Silence overtakes the room. Typical reaction.

"Are you fucking serious?" Paul exclaims, breaking the silence ever so gracefully.

As I gauge everyone's reactions, I notice a lot of relief: Quil, Emily, Kim, Jared, Rachel and even Collin and Brady. Even if they aren't really fans of the Cullens, nobody wants a war and an imprinted Jake is a happy – and less moody one. Paul just looks amused.

And then, of course being the drama queen, Sam stands their with a stony expression. "That isn't even ethical. It's part vampire for God's sake!"

Embry shrugs, looking awkward again. "Well that's what I meant about the human thing. If he imprinted on her, she must be able to reproduce."

While Embry, Sam and the rest of the pack discuss this new information, Emily, Kim, Rachel and I drift over to the living room to catch up. Unlike the boys, we keep everything light and off of the topics that have been recently destroying our lives.

Just as I'm starting to enjoy myself and feel like one of the girls again, Embry comes in. "You ready to go see your dad?" he asks, leaning against the doorway.

I sigh, looking around at them helplessly. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

We say our goodbyes and everybody's are genuine. Except for Sam, obviously, who just nods begrudgingly. As we're walking down the driveway, hand in hand, I smile cockily at him. "Told you he hated me."

"He's just... um," he sighs, closing his eyes. "You can be a lot to handle, Soph. He just doesn't like that."

"Do you?" I ask softly, glancing up at him almost shyly. Embry's never really described me that way before and although I do know that, it's always different hearing.

Luckily, he smiles at me adoringly. "You know I do. And besides, at least the Jake thing is all sorted out and we can somewhat have things go back to normal."

I let go of his hand and slide my arm around his waist. "I hope so."

We go to my house first, assuming that is probably where he's at – although with how things have been lately, you never know. We end up being right though and as we enter the house, him, Sue and Billy are all in our living rooms.

As my dad first sees me, he's completely relieved.

But that fades because once he knows I'm okay, he's ready to punish. "Sophie Maria Wyatt, you will go up to your room right now. You are grounded until the day you fucking graduate!" he yells, seething. I've never seen him even close to that mad in my life. Not when my mom left. Not all the times I've been a complete brat. Not with the eating disorder. Not even when he found out Embry and I were having sex.

I take a big breath, knowing I have to get this out in one breath before he chases me upstairs. "Look, Daddy, I know you're mad and you have every right to be but before you make me stay upstairs for the rest of my life I just want to apologize and say I'm sorry that I worried you but I was still right and on the bright side everything worked out!"

I can tell everyone is interested in the "everything worked out" part but all my dad says is, "Please go upstairs."

Nodding, I make my way up to my bedroom. Everything is the same as how I left it and as I sprawl out on my bed I try to eavesdrop on what is going on downstairs. All I can make out is noise, not specific words; however, I do notice when it stops.

Sighing, I roll over and bury my face in my pillow. My bedroom door opens and I look up expecting to see one of the adults. But as Embry walks in and closes the door, all I can think to do is raise my eyebrow and hiss, "Are you insane? I'm going to be grounded until I'm fifty if he catches you!"

Embry just smirks and slides in beside me. "First off you will be out of this house and living with me long before you turn fifty. Secondly, I have permission to be up here?"

I can't help but laugh. "How the hell did you get that?"

"Well, since _I _didn't technically do anything wrong, they decided it wasn't fair to make me suffer from being separated from my imprint any longer."

"And that worked?" I giggle in disbelief.

He nods, cuddling into me. "Of course, no 'funny business' though," he mocks, and then leans to whisper in my ear, "until they're gone at least."

Wrapping my arms around him, I sigh into his chest. "I've missed you so much."

"Me too, Sophie, me too," he whispers, kissing my forehead.

**So, first off I'm going to add the whole I'm sorry for not updating sooner and I truly am and I know I suck, but hopefully with school starting I'll be home more an able to update. I haven't decided yet if I want to go through the whole BD storyline and end it with a truly happy ending or end it before the Volturi drama comes so it seems pretty happy lol**

**Anyway thanks for reading :)**


	21. We Can Get Through Anything

**All right, so this is going to be the last chapter … I'm having a really hard time updating stories and I don't think I'd be able to get this through the whole BD storyline within a month so anyway... yeah, enjoy :)**

**Chapter 21**

Purgatory.

That's a good way to describe this house; at least, the last week of being here anyway. My dad was a lot more serious about the grounding than I ever expected him to be.

He disconnected our internet and television, and took away my cell phone. I'm not allowed to leave the house – except occasional periods of sitting on the porch when he is home. Although he kept his promise of allowing Embry to visit, I'm not allowed to call him or ask him to come over, so he can only come when he's free. Which Sam has made next to nonexistent with all of his patrols – pointless ones at that. He also has the whole pack sworn not to talk to me, something they are following concisely. Part of me knows I deserve this; part of me wishes it could just be over.

Pulling the refrigerator door open, I pull out some deli ham meat, cheese, and mustard. I place the ingredients on the counter near my golden toast, and bite my lip. The worst part about this detention? I have no idea what the hell is going on with the pack. Embry couldn't come over yesterday, so all I know is what was going on a couple of days ago. By the sounds of it, Bella has successfully changed into a vampire, Jacob is obsessed with his little imprint, and he is apparently starting to smooth things over with the pack.

All great things, but they'd be even better if I had the updated information...

As I sit down at the kitchen table with my sandwich, I glance at the clock on the microwave. One thirty-two... My dad would probably be home from the hospital at five-thirty or six; then again, he's usually only home for under an hour before he has an Elder duty to attend to. So, unless Embry finally has a day off, I'm going to be home alone all day with absolutely nothing to do.

You'd be surprised how horrid a day with no technology can be! Our house contains minimal books that aren't about medicinal studies, newspapers only have so many crosswords, and with only two people in the house, there is only so many chores that need to be done.

In fact, the whole house is spotless.

Eventually, the phone rings, bringing me out of my inner monologue. With a groan I push myself out of the chair and rush over to the cordless phone. Could it be Embry telling me he's coming over? Could it be my dad saying I could get out of this hell for one day? Or even one hour! Or fifteen minutes!

Glancing down at the caller ID, I see S. Uley. If it's Sam, I don't want to talk to him, and if it's Emily, she's not going to talk to me... Fuck.

"Hello?" I answer, fighting to keep the annoyance out of my tone.

"Oh!" Emily's voice sounds from the other end of the phone. "Soph, is your dad home yet?" Emily is a pretty big goody good, almost as bad as Kim, so there's no doubt in my mind that she will not talk to me for longer than necessary.

"Well, that depends," I reply mischievously. "If I say yes, will you talk to me until he comes and gets the phone?"

Letting out an overly dramatic sigh, she chuckles. "I'll take that as a he's not home yet? Sorry, Soph, they aren't my rules."

I roll my eyes. "Exactly! So you shouldn't have to follow them!"

I'm almost one-hundred percent sure that she rolls her eyes before responding in her motherly, scolding tone, "Sophia, you did something you shouldn't have and now you're being punished. I'm not going to help you get out of it."

"Fine," I grumble, glaring at the counter top. "Well, can you at least tell your stupid imprint to stop stealing mine away from me?"

Another sigh. "Good bye Sophie."

I slam my finger into the "end" button before chucking it onto the counter. Yeah, because destroying the house is totally going to shorten my sentence... Making my way into the living room, I collapse onto the couch. My dad locked up all the video game consoles and DVD players – even the ancient VCR player!

At this point, I'm almost tempted to start working out. Almost. I'm not exactly into the whole physical exertion thing. For the most part.

Upon hearing foot steps approaching the front door, I get extremely excited and sprint to the front door. I throw the front door open, a huge smile engulfing my face. "Hel...lo," the excitement and joy drains away and humiliation floods over me.

A very confused paperboy stands in front of me awkwardly. "Uh...hi..." Stiffly, he thrusts the paper toward me. "I was just going to leave it at the door but..."

It's pretty pathetic when you're so desperate for social contact that you have to talk to the paperboy – although, in my defense, I thought he was going to be Embry. "Um, yeah, thanks. I uh thought you were someone else. Sorry." Hastily, I snatch the paper out of his hand and retreat back into the house. It's a good thing I didn't impulsively decide to hug him...

At least I have another crossword puzzle to do. After I finish the puzzle, I do the Sudoku, and then I start reading the comics.

Suddenly, I hear the back door creak open.

_Finally!_

"Embry, if that's not you I'm going to kill myself," I mutter, pulling myself off the couch.

I find him leaning against the open doorway, a smirk on his face. "Well, I guess you're in luck then."

Chuckling, I rush into his arms and squeeze him as tightly as I possibly can. "I missed you so much!"

He wraps his arms around my waist, hugging me back. "You would miss anybody."

Smirking, I tease, "That's true, I almost jumped the paperboy today."

A jealous glare takes over his features. "You what!?"

Rolling me eyes, I push him playfully. "I _didn't_, but I thought he was you at first. It was awkward."

Embry snorts. "I can imagine."

Lacing my fingers in his, I drag him over to the couch. I let him sit down before dropping into his lap and letting him lock his arms around me. "So what's going on with everybody?" I ask eagerly.

Through a chuckle, he pecks my lips. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Um," I ponder, carefully considering what information I want him to tell me. "Are the two packs still fighting? Does Bella know that Jake imprinted on Renesmee yet? How is everybody? Why are you patrolling so much? Can you _please _bring me Greco next time you come?"

With the last one, Embry bursts out laughing. I frown at him, annoyed that he doesn't see the seriousness of the situation. I haven't had Greco in a _really _long time! "Embry!" I complain, crossing my arms over my chest.

Snorting, he holds his hands up. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But I asked you where you wanted me to _start_; that doesn't mean ask me a million questions."

"Okay fine," I relent. "Start with the Greco one."

Embry rolls his eyes, replacing his arms around my body. "Sorry babe, I've been put on strict orders. No Greco if I still want to be allowed in here. I can bring you some Pizza Hut if you want, though." He smirks knowingly.

I hate Pizza Hut.

Growling, I say, "Next question."

"Okay," he begins. "We're not one pack if that's what you mean. But I think we're all going to be okay. Quil is kind of thinking of joining Jake's pack if they decide to stay as two separate ones."

Nodding, I ask quietly, "And what are you thinking about?"

Embry's eyes harden; he averts his eyes to the opposite wall. "I haven't talked to Jake in a while, and I don't know if I ever intend to."

I bite my lip. All because I couldn't be a good person for one god damn second and not send mixed signals, Jake and Embry are never going to be the same. They're never going to be best friends again.

"He went too far this time, Soph," he whispers darkly. "And I don't care if he's imprinted now or not. I'm never going to have him be my alpha; I'm not going to have to answer to him now."

Slowly, I move my hand up and caress his cheek gently. "I'm so sorry."

Pain shoots through his eyes as he shakes his head. "I don't want to talk about it."

I nod, pressing my face into his shoulder.

"Besides," he continues, trying to sound upbeat. "The Cullens will have to leave Forks soon since they've been here so long and Jake will probably go with them."

"Yeah. That's probably true." His words won't stop nagging at me. This is all my fault.

Now, Embry's smiling a bit. "And yes Bella knows. I guess she handled it okay. Spazzed out when Jake called it Nessie, though."

I ignore that he called her an it and raise an eyebrow, exclaiming in disbelief, "Really?"

He nods. "Tried to attack him too. But Seth got in the way – broke his shoulder or arm or something."

I gasp. "Oh my god! Is Seth okay?"

Giving me a dubious look, Embry snorts, "What do you think?"

Smiling a little, I shrug. Okay, yeah, he's a werewolf. He'll be fine.

"Anyway. Everybody's fine. Kim and Emily miss you. They ask about you a lot." This fact makes me smile, although I never would have guessed that from my phone call this morning. "As for the patrolling," he sprawls out across the couch and pulls me down on top of him, "why do you think I'm patrolling a lot?"

I pout, resting an elbow on either side of his head as I lay down over him. "'Cause you don't want to see me?" I giggle at his reaction; that's clearly not an option.

"More like Sam doesn't want me to see you," he announces, sliding his hands down my waist to grope my bottom. "I want a lot more than just to see you."

With a giggle, I roll my eyes. I press my lips to his, waiting for a response. Almost instantly I get one. His grip on me tightens, crushing every inch of my skin against him, before he thrusts his tongue into my mouth. I allow his tongue to explore, which he does thoroughly while I focus on grinding our hips together and undoing the buttons our his shirt.

When I've undone the last button, he sits up – without breaking the kiss – and slides off his shirt. I'm about to pull away to discard my tank top, but I hear a drawn out ripping noise as cold air hits my naked upper half – no one wears a bra to bed.

Embry smirks into the kiss, mumbling, "It wasn't that nice of a top anyway."

"Come on," I moan as his lips assault my neck. "Let's go upstairs." Wrapping my legs around his waist, he lifts me up and charges toward my bedroom. This will be our first time since I've come back, and I know neither one of us wants to hold back.

Embry collapses down beside me, completely breathless, as he pulls out of me for the final time today. "I... forgot – how, tiring... that is," he pants, wriggling his arms around me.

Smiling, I fight to regain my breath. "We're just out of practice."

He smirks, and leans down to peck my lips. "It was pretty amazing for us being out of practice."

"Just wait until we can do it daily," I joke, winking at him.

Gently, he slides a stray hair out of my face and cups my cheek, "I wish things were always this simple."

I close my eyes and lean into the warmth of his hands. "Why can't they be?" I murmur.

"It just never is. As soon as things start to get easy, they just get complicated again."

With a sad sigh, I nod. "I know." Finally, I open my eyes, and stare deep into his dark brown ones. "But they'll never be worse than what we just went through. If we can get through this, we can get through anything."

Cuddling us even closer together, Embry kisses my forehead. "And we will," he whispers gently.

**THE END**

**Isn't it really obvious that I love happy, corny endings? Anyway thanks to everyone who read this story and put up with my horrid updating!**


End file.
